Prison and Society

Choosing to write about prison and the society could make for a very interesting topic. You could take a look at prisoner rights, rehabilitation or their integration back into society. If you are struggling to think of a topic, maybe these suggestions could help:

Example prison and society dissertation topic 1:

‘A road to nowhere’ – an analysis of the effectiveness of work-training programmes within the Probation Service and their effect upon reoffending rates: A case study in Leicester 2008 – 2012

The 2011 review into the probation service of Leicestershire noted that the number of places offered to offenders on training schemes had increased. However, the nature of those training places remained firmly rooted in manual work. Given the decline of industry across the nation and the particular rise of service-centres within the East Midlands this dissertation questions whether the training proposals offered (for instance licensing on fork-lift trucks) is appropriate – or does it merely lead to ex-offenders being qualified for jobs that do not exist – thereby potentially leading to a vicious circle of unemployment and crime. This is a dissertation that whilst based in criminological and probation service literature would also benefit from first hand interviews with both officers and offenders.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Bowen, E., Gilchrist, E. A. and Beech, A. R. (2005), ‘An examination of the impact of community-based rehabilitation on the offending behaviour of male domestic violence offenders and the characteristics associated with recidivism’, Legal and Criminological Psychology, Vol. 10, pp. 189-209.
• Copas, J. and Marshall, P. (1998), ‘The offender group reconviction scale: a statistical reconviction score for use by probation officers’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series C (Applied Statistics), Vol.47, pp. 159-171.
• McGuire, J. (2008) Social problem solving and offending: Evidence, evaluation and evolution. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.