Topic: Everything Education / California's New Attorney General to Focus on Rehabilitation

Attorney General Elect, Kamala Harris has announced that she plans to move aggressively to dramatically increase anger management, substance abuse treatment, GED preparation, job skills, counseling and a wide range of other rehabilitation programs. This will mark a shift away from warehousing of prisoners. This departure for California will increase the nationwide trend towards rehabilitation in jails and prisons.

The Canadian Bureau of Prisons was one of the first Criminal Justice Systems to recognize the value of anger management for violence prone inmates. The Bureau of Prisons conducted a 15- year study regarding the effectiveness of anger management for male and female prisoners. Here are some of the results of that study:
1. An effective anger management program must have a curriculum.
2. The curriculum must include client workbooks that contain all of the material needed to complete the course.
3. Handouts are not useful as they trivialize the importance of the course.
4. Pre and Post Tests are crucial in order to determine the success or lack of success of the course for each participant.