Brief analysis for each. NB: I believe the tendency for...

Brief analysis for each. NB: I believe the tendency for criminals to reoffend in the U.S. is so high is becuase the United States seems to offer no support to criminals to better themselves. Punishment without treatment isnt what is typically gonna help people. I have known a lot of people with drug problems that get in jail and are treated badly and then still punished when they get out even though if they were rehabbed and taught coping mechanicms they would do better. I also think its because criminals here are treated like criminals, for instance if you have a drug record in California. You cant rent a house, get government assistance, or get financial aid. None of this really helps criminals to do better because they can't do anything to better themselves without help and support. We need to treat criminals like mental health problems rather then punish them. I think I would contact criminals who were about to be released from prison. I would ask them about their stay, what supports they received, How well they were treated, were they given counseling and medical care etc. I would let them know about the study and what it was for ahead of time to make sure they were fully informed about their participation in it. I would then reasses them once for 6 months to see how things were going for them. Maybe Also check back in two years to see how much things improved from there. What supports were in place for them? Were they struggling to integrate into society and why? What did they need to become more productive members of society? What was holding them back? Were they offered any counseling or services to help transition them through this time. I would maybe even speak to a family member or support person and see how they feel they are doing and what could be improved upon. I would make the study maybe 40 offenders with a max of 5 from one state. I would use a lot of surveys and question data. I think that most people probably wouldnt mind being recruited by the study if they meant there voices would matter and be heard and possbily make a difference in the way incarcerated people were treated later. I think that I think that interanlly and externally it would be very valid. I wouldnt be messing with any of the data it would just be raw thoughts of the population of people we were looking at. Nothing would be fake or dramatized. I think it would be great to be able to apply the information and include a wide range of men, women and from differnet prisons and with different reasons for incarcerations. I think too often in our society we look down on prisoners as bad people. I have learned a lot from my studies with children about punishment rather then teaching them to do different and supporting them to chose better is always gonna be better then just shaming someone for an action. People mess up and people make mistakes but that doesnt mean they dont deserve help. I think a huge help would be offering months of counseling services and help finiding jobs and going back to education would be very helpful to these people. ME: I believe a valid method for studying the high recidivism rate in the United States in a non-experimental way would be under the umbrella of qualitative research. According to Jhangiani et al. (2019), qualitative research commonly uses large amounts of unfiltered data derived from a smaller sample population than that of quantitative research. The authors add that, "Some researchers have characterized qualitative research as best for identifying behaviors or the phenomenon whereas quantitative research is best for understanding meaning or identifying the mechanism." (Jhangiani et al., 2019, p. 31) I believe for this specific research question, qualitative research may be the best way to understand the underlying behaviors which lead individuals to reoffend. Without speaking directly with those who have reoffended, researchers cannot be sure of the underlying reasons for which an individual has reoffended. For my non-experimental study, I would elect to interview several candidates themselves about their own experiences with recidivism. I would recruit individuals who have been convicted and reoffended in their past, but none who have been convicted within the last ten years, so that they spent time thinking and better understanding what behaviors, attitudes, and actions by others and themselves contributed to their reoffending. Although there are concerns about the validity and reliability of qualitative research, and whether or not it can be generalized across a larger population, the methods of qualitative and quantitative research could be combined to make a more robust non-experimental research design (Jhangiani et al., 2019). For example, reoffenders could be interviewed to locate commonly cited factors that contributed to them reoffending, which is an example of qualitative research. Then based on those factors a hypothesis could be formed, and quantitative research could be done to test the hypothesis.