Detroit, MI -- A Wayne State University professor aims to help to the State of Michigan reduce the number of repeat offenders in the Detroit area with a unique project that will help them successfully re-enter their families and communities.

The project, headed by Anthony King, associate professor, School of Social Work, also will train professional social workers to serve parolees and former offenders.

The proposed program, which King has not named yet, is based on the Circle For Recovery Ohio (CFRO) offender re-entry program in Ohio, and it will incorporate best practices typically found in effective community corrections treatment programs. CFRO operates in seven Ohio cities, serving paroled, African-American male offenders. Program participants attend structured group sessions and receive referrals to local social service agencies that provide social, educational, and health-related services.

King\'s proposed program is unique in that it targets re-entering offenders and their families, and it will use life-skills education and cognitive behavioral approaches to help offenders develop healthy, law-abiding lifestyles. Many existing re-entry programs offer offenders\' family members support services to help them assist the offender with his or her transition into the community. King\'s program seeks to help offenders\' family members, especially children, with their individual needs and problems to strengthen the entire family.

"Cognitive behavioral interventions are designed to address faulty thinking patterns that lead to poor decision-making." King says. Research indicates that this type of intervention is effective with offenders.

King says offenders need significant help developing lifestyles and social relationships that are positive and lead to productive, law-abiding lives. And that could include engaging in social, recreational and civic activities that enhance the quality of their lives as well as the lives of their families and the residents in their communities.

King\'s program will provide opportunities for undergraduate and graduate social work students to learn how to serve offenders and their families.

"Currently, there are very few schools of social work that provide students with the special knowledge and skills required to serve criminal justice populations," King says. "We feel the growing number of former offenders compels us to prepare our students and graduates to work with these men and women, as well as their families and communities." King is seeking $1.5 million in public and private funding for the three-year project, which will serve 75 to 100 men and 75 to 100 women, most of whom will be African Americans from Detroit.

A majority of the inmates who are paroled from the state prison system come back to Detroit, King says. And a substantial percentage of those individuals are African American. "We\'re targeting the population at greatest risk for recidivism," he says.

Michigan\'s recidivism rate is not much different from the national average. In Michigan, more than 40 percent of paroled offenders return to prison within four years.

King\'s program will include a cost-benefit analysis to see if programs like this save money. King says it costs less than $70,000 a year to put as many as 50 inmates through the CFRO program in Ohio. In Michigan, the cost for incarcerating one inmate for one year is more than $20,000.

Providing support and re-entry services to paroled offenders to reduce recidivism is the goal of the Ohio study, King says. And with a well-below-average rate of 26 percent of inmates returning to prison within three years, the CFRO program seems to be working.

"Programs such as Dr. King\'s are part of the Wayne State University School of Social Work\'s distinctive history, in which our faculty have provided solutions to address society\'s intractable problems such as recidivism," says Phyllis Vroom, the school\'s dean. "Dr. King\'s work is an excellent example of how social workers connect people to resources."

Connecting people to resources is theme of National Social Work Month, which is this month. As a key component of an urban research university, the Wayne State University School of Social Work is among the nation\'s leaders in preparing students for professional practice. Regional and national agencies consistently recruit the school\'s graduates.

Wayne State offers a world-class education in the real world with more than 350 academic programs through 12 schools and colleges.Visit the WSU Office of Public Relations home page for university experts and news updates: www.media.wayne.edu