In an effort to reduce assaults and homicides in Detroit’s Wayne County, Sheriff Warren Evans has targeted the area’s 300 worst domestic violence offenders to be force-fed behavioral changes while they are in jail, reports the Detroit News. Project Safe House uses a private company to provide intensive education and counseling to offenders in jail and offers support in an aftercare program after their release.
The target group includes offenders who violated probation and skipped community-based treatment, or those who have avoided warrants for their arrest. “We have seen an increase in domestic violence in recent years, and we are seeing a real spike in domestic violence in juvenile court that we didn’t see before, with kids beating their parents or grandparents,” Evans said. “If you start out being abusive as a teenager, and the behavior doesn’t get corrected, you don’t have much to look forward to when you get older.” Chris Lole of Education Training Research Services of Southfield, said his agency’s in-jail program aims to teach the offenders accountability for their actions while recognizing their partners as equals. “They get six hours a day for 15 days or 90 hours, which would be the equivalent of almost 60 weeks of community-based programming, so it’s very intense, which makes it different than your community-based programs,” he said.
Link: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071225/METRO/712250337