Debate as a tool for rehabilitation: a 8 week debate and public speaking course at Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center

Authors

Liam DonnellyFollow

Files

Date

2017

Abstract

Sanction based prison approaches help to prevent crimes, but newer studies have shown that they do not prevent recidivism. Conversely, rehabilitation based programs have been shown to reduce recidivism rates, sparking a resurgence in these types of programs. Further, sanction based practices cost significantly more than rehabilitation programs that use parole. While rehabilitation programs are more effective and cheaper, more studies need to be performed to determine which type of rehabilitation program is the easiest and most effective. Preliminary studies show that education and CBT based programs are among the most effective. In order to add to the knowledge about education based approaches, we conducted an 8 week debate and public speaking intervention developed and organized by Jessica Bullock and SPEAK Inc. We hope to show that debate programs can provide valuable rehabilitation skills to students in prisons and help to reduce recidivism rates.

Clinical Site

Morrisville Family Health Care

Keywords

Vermont, Prison, Rehabilitation Program, recidivism, SPEAK Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Disciplines

Medical Education | Primary Care

Recommended Citation

Donnelly, Liam, "Debate as a tool for rehabilitation: a 8 week debate and public speaking course at Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center" (2017). Family Medicine Clerkship Student Projects. 258.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/258