Assignment:
200-word response 1 reference
We learned about prison life and preparing for prisoners for community reentry. Our question this week is: One of the most researched and supported therapeutic programs is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Describe the strengths of CBT as a therapeutic approach in preparing prisoners for community reentry. Should parole boards require polygraph evaluations as part of the decision to parole to ensure that the prisoners are being truthful in their therapy? Explain.
Dr. Michael Pittaro (2019) defines cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) as a type of psychotherapy that differs from previous psychoanalysis techniques by focusing on solutions to negative or destructive behavior, and focusing more on positive, socially acceptable behaviors. The previous techniques focused on childhood and adolescent years looking at trauma, abandonment, and neglect. By using this technique and repetition to defeat the cycle of deceit that prisoners use to get the treatment over with, eventually there will be a way to tell if that individual is on the path to improvement. Targeting the thoughts and behaviors of the prisoner is main goal of CBT. CBT is more focused on what is happening in the here and now with the prisoner rather than the past and history of trauma (2019). This focus can gear the prisoner towards a more constructive behavior, one that is more acceptable and in preparation to possibly reenter society.
This is because "CBT does not solely focus on criminality, but rather the criminogenic factors that directly and indirectly contribute to criminality, including but not limited to improving the prisoner's social skills, problem-solving skills, critical reasoning, moral reasoning, self-control, self-efficacy, and two of my personal favorites, coping and resiliency skill-building" (2019). Working on the prisoners on these basic skills to reintegrate them back into society is such a crucial and effective approach that CBT uses. Having this program focus on more than just the criminological aspect and more on the offender's mind, it is able to help them more effectively build their way back up to a functioning member of society.
By reforming the way these people think and act towards others, can increase the rate of recidivism by creating a strong support network, giving them education and job opportunities, and substance and mental health counseling (2019). With all these tools, and the effectiveness of the results I still think that a polygraph test would be a smart idea before release of the prisoner. Even with all the tools used to try and rehabilitate these individuals, there is still a hard time trusting them. They got put in this place because they committed some crime and that, to me, makes me question their character. It is harder to lie (not impossible) to a polygraph, and at this point I would like to think that they are focused on getting out, so they want to do everything right in order to keep that status. This way they can keep themselves accountable with their program and ensures that they are sent out in a reformed manner.