carries more weight than if the counselor were to suggest it (Bennett 20-24). .
Further, in sociology, one of the major theories of delinquency is differential association .
(Cressey 1955). This means some people learned their ways from undesirable people who they were forced .
to be in association with and that this association warps their thinking and social attitudes. Group .
counseling, group interaction, and other kinds of group activities can provide a corrective, positive .
experience that might help to offset the earlier delinquent association (Bennett 25). However, it is .
said that group counseling can do little to destroy the power of labeling (Bennett 26). The .
differential-association theory emphasizes that a person is more likely to become a criminal if the .
people who have the greatest influence upon them are criminals (Doob 169). .
Most of todaycorrectional institutions lack the ability and programs to rehabilitate the .
criminals of America. One can predict that a prisoner held for two, four, eight or ten years, then .
released , still with no education or vocational skills will likely return to a life of crime. Often .
their life in crime will resume in weeks after their release. Although the best prisons and programs in .
the world will not cure the problem totally, improvements still must be made (Szumski 20). .
Prison inmates, are some of the most maladjusted people in society. Most of the inmates have .
had too little discipline or too much, come from broken homes, and have no self-esteem. They are very .
insecure and are at war with themselves as well as with society (Szumski 20). Most inmates did not .
learn moral values or learn to follow everyday norms. Also, when most lawbreakers are labeled criminals .
they enter the phase of secondary deviance. They will admit they are criminals or believe it when they .
enter the phase of secondary deviance (Doob 171). .
Next, some believe that if we want to rehabilitate criminals we must do more than just send them .
