Explain the Social casework in Correctional Settings.

Social casework in Correctional Settings.

Development of social performance can be achieved by means of mobilizing the capacities within the offender. The draft of inner capacities and environmental resources is accomplished primarily through the relationship between the caseworker and the client. Casework is the process of dealing with the individual case. It is concerned with the individual in relation to his social environment and aims at his successful adjustment. The caseworker is accountable for facilitating communication, both verbal and non-verbal, without which no relationship can be established and developed. This relationship is connected with the treatment process.

The two types of casework treatment currently used in correctional settings are the supportive treatment method and curative treatment. The latter requires the use of different techniques that help the client to improve his functioning through modification of selected ego mechanisms of defense. The outward form of the client’s behaviour and selected internal process are modified.

In correctional organization, caseworker keeps the bond a sensible one, using the possible elements in the relationship to motivate and influence the client towards a maximal solution of his problems.

This is for the purpose of adaptation and mastery and towards offering chances that may induce constructive motivation, where it does not, exist. In correctional settings, the social caseworker attempts to establish a relationship which, over a period of time, frees the individual to express his feelings, muster his ego strength, change his anti-social values and become a law-abiding citizen.

It means that the caseworker accepts the client, understands and respects him. Then, through a bond of warmth and support, changes are affected. The caseworker is non-judgmental, sensitive to the needs of the offender, and conveys a feeling of respect for the integrity and individuality of the offender, regardless of his criminal conduct.

In many instances, the offender is likely to express his needs about concrete situations, such as the way he left things at home, or the job he left behind, or some details of institutional life, such as change of work assignments, or living quarters, or a suspected discrimination against with in privileges.

Is casework primarily concerned with the social environment and its improvement? Casework, however, has a general interest in both the offender and the environment, since its goal is to find a means of adjustment and equilibrium between the two. For the successful accomplishment of this task, the caseworker must understand the offender, his capacities and abnormalities and he Must know the social situation, its resources and dangers.

There are five basic assumptions underlying casework, which are applicable in helping the offender:

1. Every individual must be seen as a person of dignity and worth.
2. Behavior, whether acceptable or unacceptable to the community, expresses a need of the individual.
3. An individual can and will change his behaviour if the right help is given at the right time and in the right amount.
4. If the offer of help is given before the problem becomes seriously aggravated, the response is likely to be better.
5. The stress in casework varies from case to case, since the cause of maladjustment may lie first and .foremost with the individual, or with the environment, or in some mixture of these personal and social factors.

The casework may be directed at strengthening the personality, in order to increase the capacity and understand the offender. This is true, for instance, in the case of those who suffer from nervous and emotional disorders, from frustrations and conflicts, which prevent successful adjustment in any circumstances.

In achieving both direct and ultimate goals, three fundamental processes are seen inter-playing at every point, the use of the resources, assisting the offender to understand his needs and possibilities and helping him to develop the ability to work out his own social programme through the use of available resources. in other correctional settings, especially in institutions, not only is casework a later development, but it is very hard to apply.