Do murderers rehabilitate in prison?

[jobhunter7]

I've been reading about the awful Sophie Lancaster story and I was wondering whether people thought people who commit crimes like this do come out of prison rehabilitated by the system at all. As awful as crimes like this are, they were teenage boys. And sometimes people in prison haven't had the best start in life.

@jobhunter7

Knowing somebody that had done what Sophie Lancaster's murderers had done would probably make me not to be friends with them, myself...

are they out of prison now.

I remember one of their mums just laughed at what they have done.

Says alot, scummy family.

Working in the legal profession, I know there is a lot of analysis and research on various convicted offender programs and impact on recidivism rates. I'm not familiar with the current data, but when I attend courses presenting findings in the past it was typically smaller scale studies, non-consistent and hard to generalize. However, any potential reduction in future offenses is hugely welcomed.

My own experience is lots of repeat offenders, and poorly resources rehabilitation programs and lack of engagement from offenders. Offences are seldom once off; driving offenses, sex offenses, burglaries, there are whole series of these from individuals.

I’ve started to look into this a bit with my university study, and there’s not really a definitive answer as there’s so many factors at play.
I’d say that someone like Levi Belfield for example, who has some pretty serious mental illness at play and comes from a violent background etc is not capable of rehabilitation because his brain is just wired that way. He doesn’t feel normal, human emotions like the rest of us, so committing a completely abhorrent crime/s is like water off a ducks back to him.
I’d like to think that offenders who commit crimes at a very young age, have no serious mental illnesses etc can be rehabilitated, but at this point, the system is so broken, I just don’t see it happening.
We hear about the prison environment all the time, and how dog eat dog it is - I think more often than not the “kill or be killed” mentality prevails, dashing any hope of rehabilitation. It’s a vicious circle.

I think some people can and some people can’t be rehabilitated and return safely to the community. I do not, however think that the criminal justice system in the UK is good at rehabilitation.

There are some people who make very bad choices, due to things like mental health needs or addiction, and who are otherwise good people. I think with their underlying issues addressed and support they can be safe in the community.

However there are other people who experience intrinsic desire to harm or abuse others and/or have no ability to empathise or feel emotions towards others. These people are think either cannot or will be very difficult to rehabilitate.

I think saying people who kill should never be released is unrealistic. The reality is that if we kept everyone who committed a sexual or violent crime locked up we’d pretty soon have no space….we already have an increasing and unmanageable prison population.

I personally would like people who can be safely managed in the community to be kept out of prison, but given intensive support to address needs and access housing/jobs etc. Then the minority of dangerous people who will never be rehabilitated can be kept out of society.

@Whatinthelord it’s a vicious circle.
Prisons in this country are so full of people who commit minor offences over and over again, and so many of those people (particularly female prisoners) are the victims of poverty, addiction, domestic violence etc which inevitably leads to them committing crimes.
In a magical fantasy land where appropriate funding was pumped into addiction services, and towards breaking the cycle of poverty, the inmate population would drop drastically. So many offenders reoffend over and over again because life in prison is safer and gives them a bed and 3 meals a day rather than sleeping on the streets, wondering when they’ll next eat. It’s such a deep rooted problem

He never committed another offence but lived in constant fear of being recalled to prison

Having worked in this field, this is the biggest motivator. Murderers are released, but on a life licence, and can be recalled at the drop of a hat. So are they rehabilitated or are they just sick of prison and know what they need to do and say to stay on the outside? I never came to a definite conclusion on that one because you can't read people's minds. Spend a bit of time in "the system" and you know all the right things to say. Is that the case here? Time will tell.

• I work in forensic mh (ex offenders)

Some do some don’t depends on circumstances, back ground, support they get

Sexual offenders no they can’t be rehabilitated*

I've worked with loads of murderers and completely agree with HRTQueen.

The mass murder psychopaths shown on TV dramas are incredibly rare. The reasons for committing murder are varied and likewise the likelihood and success of rehabilitation varies. I know many murderers who I believe do not pose a big risk to the public.

I actually live on the same street as a murderer and it doesn't overly worry me.

Sex offenders though. I do not believe they can ever be rehabilitated and it's just about managing them to ensure public safety. I would not be comfortable living so close to a known sex offender!

@Ringmaster27 oh I agree. I work in a cat C and have seen the same faces come back, sometimes for mere months. It all feels ineffective and pointless. Prison is so expensive, I can’t believe better couldn’t be provided with that same money in the community.

There isn’t the appetite for it though and in general the public seem to want people to be punished above being rehabilitated. I reading about some of the rehabilitative support provided in other countries, but it’s expensive and I don’t see it happening anytime over here.

I find the comments about sexual offenders not being able to rehabilitate interesting. I have always felt this was true and especially with child sex offences. Which is why I am always aghast at the sentences given for these offences being so minimal. Especially in compassion to something like fraud….I just don’t understand the sentencing.

@Whatinthelord I had to watch a documentary on a women’s prison a while back as part of my study, and honestly some of their stories were heartbreaking. I know they’ve committed crimes and have to face the consequences of that, but some of the circumstances that led them to the offences were just horrendous
One poor lass, in for drug offences, had been a heroin addict for a decade, in a DV relationship. She was getting out, and her abusive partner was supposed to be picking her up, he didn’t show. And she was in tears outside the prison saying she had nowhere to go so would probably end up back in a city centre squat with all her addict friends and the cycle would inevitably start again

@Whatinthelord and @MagicDragonsPuff there is no UK criminal justice system or prison system. Northern Ireland and Scotland have completely separate prison systems. I'm less knowledgeable about NI criminal justice, but certainly the Scottish legal system is also entirely separate. I have worked in both England Wales prison system and the Scottish prison system. I'll be honest E&W prison system has some advantages over Scottish such as excellent data on likelihood of reconviction for each person in the system, and the opportunity for suitably risk assessed and eligible prisoners to find employment towards the end of sentence. But the wider criminal justice system in Scotland has some advantages (in my opinion) such as a huge and very successful drive to reduce the number of young people in prisons/young offenders institutions. Down from hundreds to a handful.