Contribution of Parole in Reintegrating Offenders to Reduce Recidivism:

Abstract

The Research Report is on the contribution of Parole in reintegrating Offenders to reduce recidivism. The study adopted a case study design with the purpose of eliciting more in-depth information from both the respondents and the secondary data from documentary. Additionally, the research adopted qualitative techniques in its collection, analysis, and presentation of findings. Since the study aimed to critically assess the contribution of parole system in reintegration process of offenders in order to reduce recidivism, the research therefore used interview as the main data collection tool, which was supplemented by observation, and documentary reviews on the legislature and institutional procedures about parole systems in Tanzania. The adoption was informed by the establishment made by other scholars on the use of such data collection tools to best suit the case study design as well as the qualitative approach. On the extant literature reviewed, the research managed to establish the existing gap in knowledge as it was revealed that little was known about the contribution of parole system in reintegrating offenders in order to reduce recidivism in Tanzania. Being guided by both the research objectives and the research questions, the research main findings include first; parole system has a positive contribution in reintegrating offenders into the community and thus can reduce the rate of recidivism among offenders only when the key parole system programmes have been embraced by all key prayers. Secondly, that the strategies used by the parole officers in the reintegration of offenders into the community in order to reduce recidivism rate in Arusha are really useful and meet for the reintegration purposes. Thirdly, that a lot is desired to improve the reintegration programmes for released offenders through parole system in Tanzania. This study concludes that parole system has a positive contribution in reintegrating offenders into the community and thus can reduce the rate of recidivism among offenders only when all key prayers have embraced the key parole system programmes. Additionally, from the findings, it was v clear that parole system has vital role to contribute in reintegrating offenders to the reduce reoffending among leased prisoners in Tanzania. Consequently, as informed by the conclusions, the research recommends among other things first, the government should review the Tanzania Prison Act of 1967 as amended in 1997 to improve among other things the inclusion of all offences into the system and allocating more funds, training parole officers, and conducting business process re-engineering on the parole procedures as well as removing redundancy on the functions of the regional and national parole boards.- The government should establish a start-up soft loan facility to released prisoners and parolees, which will empower them to have a smooth reintegration into the community through the 10% allocation currently issued to youth, women, and the disabled. Thirdly, the government should consider improving the Prisons’ physical infrastructure to ensure that it is accessible by both abled and disabled prisoners; and removing the overcrowd challenge, as well as providing the basic rights of prisoners which includes right to conjugal rights and privacy. Moreover, the researcher recommends that the Tanzania Prison Service to consider a thoughtful need to redesign the rehabilitation programmes such that it comprises of the vocational and educational curricula relevant to the community and to introduce ‘a Prison Week’ be introduced which will be commemorated in one week every year, among others. Due to the research limitations, the study finally recommends for future research into the parole systems as far as reintegration programmes of offenders is concerned.