Correction and Re-Socialization: On the Issue of Conceptual Clarity

The article analyzes the problems of correction and re-socialization of convicts and former convicts. According to the author, many issues of correction and re-socialization remain open, there is a lack of conceptual clarity in understanding these processes. The conclusion is proposed for discussion that in the process of re-socialization of convicts and former convicts, two stages can be distinguished – social readaptation and internalization. It is proved that social readaptation as an adaptation of convicts and persons who have served their sentences to new or restored norms and values, social roles can be expressed in obtaining general or additional education, vocational training, advanced training, involvement in paid work, development of mutual assistance among convicts, restoration and (or) development of ties with relatives, friends, colleagues, etc. It is noted that at the second independent stage of re-socialization, the acquired experience, values are reinteriorized with the help of other people, social institutions: they are assimilated, incorporated into the inner world of individuals, turning into a kind of reflex. The article substantiates the position that the process of re-socialization should be implemented through individual social rehabilitation programs and act in accordance with international acts as a way to achieve the main goal – the reintegration of convicts into society. It is concluded that the focus of penal enforcement policy should not be on absolute theories with ideas of retribution, which represent «the criminal as a rational agent weighing the costs and benefits of crime,» but on correctional concepts that see the criminal as a person amenable to correction and in need of support and treatment.