The Idea of an Essay, Volume 4

Research Writing 163 programs discussed, and the benefits of such programs. Criminal Justice Initiative. (1997). Education as crime prevention: Providing education to prisoners. The Center on Crime, Communities and Culture. This article provides an excellent analysis of education in relation to prisoners, and their literacy. It helps explore how both youth and adults demonstrate links between illiteracy and criminality, giving a good portion of statistics, and solid analysis. Drakeford, W. (2002). The Impact of an Intensive Program to Increase the Literacy Skills of Youth Confined to Juvenile Corrections. Journal of Correctional Education, 53(4), 139-144. This research presents a large number of statistics pointing to illiteracy of incarcerated populations. Based off a similar study in Michigan at a county jail, Drakeford investigates a juvenile detention center in Maryland to evaluate the effectiveness of the program, particularly with youth. This piece also helps look at the importance of attitude and its affect in correctional literacy education. This research looks closely not only at the benefits of these programs, but also at the barriers to implementing these educational programs. Most uniquely, this piece brings an extremely strong opinion for supporting correctional literacy programs, along with large amounts of empirical data to support its claims. Gannon, M., & Lapham, M. (2010, December). Computer-Assisted Literacy Education Serves as Intervention for Incarcerated Women. Corrections Today , 50-53. This article looks at literacy as the first step to obtaining further education for offenders, not just as something to decrease recidivism. It points to many offenders having a disbelief that they are smart enough to read, but argues