Fields of social work practice: Corrections/Criminal Justice

BY: CHE

Crime is a very serious problem in the world. Although its definition varies all around the world, problem=crime is not an exaggeration. Social workers can work in the fields of criminal justice and corrections.

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Criminal justice is another important expression of social work practice. Correctional social workers get employed at courts, parole and probation offices, and correctional facilities. This field of social work embraces offenders from all aspects of the society. They cover lots of services from the time of arrest to the person's release which includes counseling, crisis intervention and referral services.

This field is strongly related to the field of substance abuse. The United States hold 25% of the world's inmate population, and 85% of them meet the criteria for substance addiction or have met the criteria in the past. However, only 11% of them receive treatment in federal/state prisons and jails. The budget for prevention and treatment for addiction is very little(1.9 cents of every dollar) while the government spends 95.6% of that budget pays for the consequences of substance abuse, meaning that the government is using billions of dollars to clean up the mess rather than preventing the mess from happening. In such unfortunate situations, social workers can provide some help that the government couldn't really afford such as 12-setp programs AA(including group therapy), detox, behavioral counseling, medication, long-term follows up, and evaluation for correlating illness.