History

• Some early eighteenth and twentieth century prisons were proponents of rehabilitative policies. "Early American prisons, such as those at Auburn, Ossining, and Pittsburgh during the 1820s, implemented rehabilitative principles. These early programs isolated convicts in order to remove them from the temptations that had driven them to crime and to provide each inmate with time to listen to her conscience and reflect on her deeds...This belief that all convicts would return to their inherently good natures when removed from the corrupting influences of society gave way to more aggressive forms of treatment informed by the rise of social scientific studies into criminal behavior.
•  Research in psychology, criminology, and sociology provided reformers with a deeper understanding of deviance and sharper tools with which to treat it. Rehabilitation became a science of reeducating the criminal with the values, attitudes, and skills necessary to live lawfully."
•  The philosophy of rehabilitation is that "not the offense but the character and reformability of the offender should determine his treatment."
• "Then, in the early 1970s, rehabilitation suffered a precipitous reversal of fortune. The larger disruptions in American society in this era prompted a general critique of the “state run” criminal justice system.
•  Rehabilitation was blamed by liberals for allowing the state to act coercively against offenders, and was blamed by conservatives for allowing the state to act leniently toward offenders.In this context, the death knell of rehabilitation was seemingly sounded by Robert Martinson’s (1974b) influential 'nothing works' essay, which reported that few treatment programs reduced recidivism. 
• This review of evaluation studies gave legitimacy to the antitreatment sentiments of the day; it ostensibly “proved” what everyone 'already knew': Rehabilitation did not work."
• Deterrence (legal) and incapacitation ruled over the criminal justice system until the 90's where an unmanageable increase of the prisoner population created gaps where the benefits of rehabilitative policy could be discussed

Policies

Indeterminate Sentencing

Indeterminate sentences are sentences where a judge indicates a minimum and maximum time for an offender to be imprisoned. The prisoner may be released anytime between the established minimum and maximum time. Indeterminate sentencing expanded discretion into the prison system so that prisoner rehabilitation could be analysed on the individual level. Indeterminate sentencing is personalized opposed to determinate sentencing which is standardized

 

Parole

Parole is the conditional release of a prisoner who has served a part of their sentence back into the community under supervision and conditions that if violated will result in rearrest. There are 784,408 parolees in the United States Although parole began as an effort to reintegrate offenders into the community, "...parole supervision has shifted ever more toward surveillance, drug testing, monitoring curfew and collecting restitution."That is, the context of parole has shifted from reintegration with society into control of the individual on parole. Rather than parole being for rehabilitation, it has become in practice a less restrictive form of imprisonment. It is also argued that parole is a deterred prison entry program due to the high percentage of parolees that end up in prison due to violating terms of their parole. 

 

Probation

Probation is a period of time where an offender lives under supervision and under a set of restrictions. Violations of these restrictions could result in arrest. Probation is typically an option for first time offenders with high rehabilitative capacity. At its core, it is "a substitute for prison," with the goal being to "'spare the worthy first offender from the demoralizing influences of imprisonment and save him from recidivism

 

Expungement

Expungement is when an offense is removed from an offender's criminal record. Minor offenses where rehabilitative success is met are deemed in some cases to be expungable in order for the offender to move past their mistake and live a completely normal life unrestricted by a past mistake.

Separate Juvenile Justice System

Separate courts, detention facilities, and programs for juvenile offenders acknowledges that children, often not fully developed enough to know right from wrong, are deserving of separate rehabilitation efforts and processes. Prior to the late 1800s, child offenders were processed, trialled, and punished the same way as an adult would be. However, "By the mid-1920s, reforms separating children and adults who violated criminal laws into two separate court systems swept across the country." Although there was a time that "...judges primarily concerned themselves with the best interests of the delinquent child, victims' rights statutes now require juvenile courts to balance the rehabilitative needs of the child with other competing interests such as accountability to the victim and restoration of communities impacted by crime."

 

 

Rehabilitation

Also called: Rehab 

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After a serious injury, illness or surgery, you may recover slowly. You may need to regain your strength, relearn skills or find new ways of doing things you did before. This process is rehabilitation.
Rehabilitation often focuses on

• Physical therapy to help your strength, mobility and fitness
• Occupational therapy to help you with your daily activities
• Speech-language therapy to help with speaking, understanding, reading, writing and swallowing
• Treatment of pain

The type of therapy and goals of therapy may be different for different people. An older person who has had a stroke may simply want rehabilitation to be able to dress or bathe without help. A younger person who has had a heart attack may go through cardiac rehabilitation to try to return to work and normal activities. Someone with a lung disease may get pulmonary rehabilitation to be able to breathe better and improve their quality of life.

• Rehabilitation of people with disabilities is a process aimed at enabling them to reach and maintain their optimal physical, sensory, intellectual, psychological and social functional levels. Rehabilitation provides disabled people with the tools they need to attain independence and self-determination.

Rehabilitate

Pronunciation: /riːhəˈbɪlɪteɪt/

Translate rehabilitate | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish

verb

[with object]

• restore (someone) to health or normal life by training and therapy after imprisonment, addiction, or illness:helping to rehabilitate former criminals
• restore (someone) to former privileges or reputation after a period of disfavour:with the fall of the government many former dissidents were rehabilitated
• return (something, especially a building or environmental feature) to its former condition: the campaign aims to rehabilitate the river’s flood plain

Derivatives

rehabilitation

noun

rehabilitative

Pronunciation: /-tətɪv/

adjective

Origin:

late 16th century (earlier (late 15th century) as rehabilitation) (in the sense 'restore to former privileges'): from medieval Latin

Def

• the restoration of someone to a useful place in society
• the conversion of wasteland into land suitable for use of habitation or cultivation
• vindication of a persons character and the re-establishment of that persons reputation

Noun	1.	rehabilitation - the restoration of someone to a useful place in society restoration - the act of restoring something or someone to a satisfactory state correctional rehabilitation - providing penal custody or probation or parole for convicted offenders physical rehabilitation, physical restoration, therapeutic rehabilitation - providing help for disabled persons; the removal or reduction of disabilities vocational rehabilitation - providing training in a specific trade with the aim of gaining employment
	2.	rehabilitation - the conversion of wasteland into land suitable for use of habitation or cultivation reclamation, renewal restoration - the act of restoring something or someone to a satisfactory state re-afforestation, reforestation - the restoration (replanting) of a forest that had been reduced by fire or cutting urban renewal - the clearing and rebuilding and redevelopment of urban slums
	3.	rehabilitation - vindication of a person's character and the re-establishment of that person's reputation vindication, exoneration - the act of vindicating or defending against criticism or censure etc.; "friends provided a vindication of his position"
	4.	rehabilitation - the treatment of physical disabilities by massage and electrotherapy and exercises physiatrics, physical therapy, physiotherapy - therapy that uses physical agents: exercise and massage and other modalities

 Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

         1. The processing, usually in a relatively quiet area, of units or individuals recently   withdrawn   from combat or arduous duty, during which units recondition equipment and are rested, furnished special facilities, filled up with replacements, issued replacement supplies and equipment, given training, and generally made ready for employment in future operations.
        2. The action performed in restoring an installation to authorized design standards.

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. US Department of Defense 2005.

Meaning

Meaning of REHABILITATION :

Rehabilitation means "to restore to useful life, as through therapy and education" or "to restore to good condition, operation, or capacity".

The assumption of rehabilitation is that people are not permanently criminal and that it is possible to restore a criminal to a useful life, to a life in which they contribute to themselves and to society. A goal of rehabilitation is to prevent habitual offending, also known as criminal recidivism. Rather than punishing the harm out of a criminal, rehabilitation would seek, by means of education or therapy, to bring a criminal into a more peaceful state of mind, or into an attitude which would be helpful to society, rather than be harmful to society.


1. To restore to good health or useful life, as through therapy and education.

2. To restore to good condition, operation, or capacity.

3. To reinstate the good name of.

4. To restore the former rank, privileges, or rights of.

Rehabilitation [ˌriːəˌbɪlɪˈteɪʃən]

n

1. (Social Welfare) the act or process of rehabilitating

2. (Medicine) Med

a.  the treatment of physical disabilities by massage, electrotherapy, or exercises

b.  (as modifier) rehabilitation centre