Correctional Counseling and Treatment - Paperback

by Peter C. Kratcoski (Author)

Provides a comprehensive overview of the aims and scope of correctional counseling and treatment
Combines detailed descriptions with practical applications
Includes behavior modification treatments, cognitive therapies, and other tools that corrections workers use
Covers institutional and community corrections

Back Jacket

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the methods used in the Criminal Justice system in the United States to counsel and treat offenders. It is aimed at advanced undergraduate and early graduate-level students for courses in Correctional Treatment or Rehabilitation, or Community Corrections more broadly.

The sections in the book provide:

- Aims and Scope of Correctional Counseling and Treatment

- Tools that Corrections Workers Use (including counseling and case management)

- Behavioral Modification Treatments: Examples and Applications

- Cognitive Therapies: Examples and Applications

Throughout the text, there is an emphasis on the big picture: the interaction of the correctional component of the justice system with other components, particularly courts (including special courts like family courts, drug courts, veterans courts and other programs).

Chapters in this book address the diverse population of correctional facilities, including juvenile offenders; those with mental illness, addiction and substance abuse problems, physical and mental disabilities; and homeless populations. The author also provides analysis of how legislation influences the corrections process.

This work is also enhanced by providing comparative analysis of the criminal and juvenile justice systems: their goals, objectives, and how these can affect counseling and treatment available within these two systems.

The pedagogical features of this engaging text include excerpted interviews with correctional practitioners about the problems and challenges they encounter, discussion questions, classification of institutions, current examples of specific treatment programs, and case studies that give students the chance to select the appropriate interviewing, counseling, and treatment approaches to deal with the problems, and stresses of applying these methods. Several chapters are co-authored by correctional practitioners.

This work provides students with an overview of the methods used for Correctional Treatment and Counseling, and the tools to begin to think critically about how and when to apply these methods.

Author Biography

Peter C. Kratcoski earned a PhD in sociology from the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, a MA in sociology from the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, and a BA in sociology from King's College, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He was selected for several post-doctoral grants by the National Science Foundation. He taught at the College of St. Thomas, St Paul, Minnesota and at the Pennsylvania State University before assuming the position of assistant professor of sociology at Kent State University in 1969. He retired as professor of criminal justice studies and chairman of the Department of Criminal Justice Studies at Kent State in 1997, where he is currently a professor emeritus and adjunct professor. He has published many books, chapters in books, and journal articles in the areas of juvenile delinquency, juvenile justice, international policing, crime prevention, corrections and victimology. His most recent writing and research has centered on juvenile justice, collaborative policing, correctional counseling, financial crimes, corruption and fraud and victimization of the elderly.