Animals and the Resocialization of Offenders: From Ideas to Application
Keywords:
prisons, rehabilitation, resocialization, recidivism, animalsAbstract
Offenders' rehabilitation programs that are based upon the interaction with animals have increasingly been receiving the attention of the media and experts from various fields of science (including psychology, sociology, andragogy, penology, criminology and criminal law) due to a multitude of benefits they are capable of providing for: inmates, prison staff, broader community and animals. Resocialization of offenders, a decrease in recidivism rates, additional income for prison budgets, and saving abandoned animals are only some of them. Having this in mind, the author of this paper studies key moments in the historical development of the application of animal-assisted therapies and programs, key benefits of these programs, the most remarkable example of modern use of these programs in the world and the implementation of animal-assisted programs in Serbia in the Correctional Institution in Sremska Mitrovica. In the concluding remarks, the author highlights the most important potentials of these programs in crime suppression, explains the need for additional research in this area, and suggests further directions for their evaluation and improvement.
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