Understanding the Diverse Offender Population

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• Understanding the Diverse Offender Population

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Performance Objective 1

• Identify basic offender demographics and their
  implications in workforce development

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Demographics

• Men 15 times as likely to be incarcerated
• Female prison population grew by 52 from
  1995-2002 6.8 of offenders are female
• Distribution in state and federal prisons 35
  white 45 black, 17 Hispanic
• More than 40 of offenders lived in single-parent
  household

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Demographics, cont.

• Parents of more than 25 abused alcohol or drugs
• Five out of 10 female offenders and 1 out of 10
  males physically or sexually abused
• Family members of more than one-third served time
• More than 826,000 children belong to offenders

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Demographics, cont.

• 94 committed a crime prior to this incarceration
• 29 of victims of violent crimes reported that
  the crime was committed under influence of
  alcohol, drugs, or both
• 33 participated in drug treatment program

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Performance Objective 2

• Describe the diverse groups that make up the
  offender population with which they work

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Diversity

• Identifiable differences between and within
  members of various groups

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Stereotype

• The assumption that all members of a certain
  group share the same characteristics

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Ethnic Identity

• Degree to which a person views membership in an
  ethnic group as central and positive in life

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Acculturation

• The level to which an individual has assumed
  values and characteristics of the majority
  culture

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Understanding Race and Ethnicity

• Race Diversity of a biological nature
• Ethnicity Diversity of a social and cultural
  nature

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Performance Objective 3

• Explore attitudes toward diverse offender
  populations

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Guidelines for Working with Diverse Populations

• Become aware of your own attitudes.
• Learn to become non-defensively flexible.
• Respect the impact of culture on attitudes and
  behaviors.

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Guidelines for Working with Diverse Populations

• Be able to match interventions to unique needs.
• When in doubt about how a persons diversity may
  affect the vocational choice process, ask.
• Be aware of the way you communicate with persons
  of diversity, verbally and non-verbally.