Date of Award

7-1-2007

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Criminology and Criminal Justice

First Advisor

Dr. Lisa Sample

Abstract

In response to the three-fold increase in the number of returning inmates to America's communities over the last three decades, the Department of Justice's Serious and Violent Offender Re-entry Initiative provides funding for development of programming to reduce recidivism rates and improve community safety. However, evaluations of these re-entry programs have not addressed the attitudes and opinions of the program participants themselves. This study examined the perceptions of the re-entry participants to help assess the effectiveness of the programming they are receiving from the Nebraska Serious and Violent Offender Re-entry Pilot Program. Data was gathered from personalized re-entry plans for offenders and through qualitative interviews of the program transition managers and program participants. The results of this research addressed the effectiveness and possible improvements of the Nebraska re-entry program, which will ultimately affect the inmates' likelihood of living crime-free upon their return to the community and hence increase public safety.

Comments

A Thesis Presented to the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and the Faculty of the Graduate College University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts University of Nebraska at Omaha. Copyright Crystal Fuller July, 2007

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