Review and Analysis of Incarcerated Offenders

Child abuse and neglect have been addressed by many disciplines of government for a variety of reasons. Departments of youth services and departments of social work across the country are concerned with intervening such that youth are protected from abuse; these interventions tend to focus on separating the child from the situation with secondary attention towards ameliorating the situation. Police intervene to stop the abuse and prosecute the abuser. Schools and medical doctors are expected (often required by law) to report abuse. Courts focus on adjudication of those charged with abuse (both civilly and criminally), assign blame, and prescribe treatment (sentence). Correctional agencies administer the sentence.

Correctional agencies are in the unique position to "fix" the abuser, as adjudicated abusers become wards of the correctional system. This offers correctional agencies both the time and opportunity to transform abusers. The only agency of government that focuses on repairing the abuser is corrections — all others focus on separating the child from the abuser (social services often make services available to abusers but their focus is on the child's welfare). The focus on abusers occurs for several reasons. First, there is the hope that successful treatment will result in cession of abusive behavior — a good in its own right. The second reason is that children who are abused are thought to grow up to be abusers, creating a production cycle of abusers. Additionally, there is ample empirical evidence that a history of child abuse is related to a wide range of juvenile and adult behavioral problems, many of which land victims of abuse into the criminal justice system as offenders.

This project was designed to meet the expressed need by the Alaska Department of Corrections (DOC) for detailed information about the child abuse histories of incarcerated adults. This information will be used by DOC to develop strategies to "break the cycle of abuse."