Rethinking Crime and Punishment’s Director, Kim Workman, supports Corrections CEO Ray Smith, in a proposal to relocate gang members and other criminals away from gangs, once released.

“I think he’s on to something, and it’s great to see Corrections Minister Anne Tolley in backing the idea. A change of community and peers is often what it takes to bring about change. It is often about the opportunity to “knife off” from old situations and establish new routines and activities.

What’s more it’s supported by research. Following Hurricane Katrina, prisoners were forced to relocate to new communities. Research showed that those parolees who moved to a new community following release were substantially less likely to be reimprisoned during the first 3 years after release than those ex-offenders who moved back to the community where they were originally convicted.

We need to be prepared to try these ideas, and support them.
Reference: “Residential change as a turning point in the life course of crime: Desistance orTemporary Cessation. By David S Kirk, in “Criminology”, February 2012

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-125.2011.00262.x/abstract

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