Individual Time Perspective of Convicts on Imprisonment Sentences: Implications for Social Rehabilitation Interactions

Abstract

The authors of the paper present a new look at the temporal perspective, which might supplement social rehabilitation of people serving sentences of imprisonment in prison conditions. The neglect of personal temporal preferences of convicts in hitherto social rehabilitation concepts may be the cause of failures in undertaken interactions. The individualization of social rehabilitation proposals in reference to the dominant temporal orientation of a prisoner makes them more suitable to the personal mechanisms of psychological functioning, more cognitively available for the convict, motivates to greater involvement in social rehabilitation planned in such a way, and also promotes balancing temporal perspective in the future. A balanced time perspective is a resource, which may increase the likelihood that individuals will avoid engaging in criminal behavior after being released from prison.

Keywords

• time perspective
• prison sentence
• social rehabilitation