ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the challenges criminal justice and treatment professionals encounter in treating and managing offenders with special needs. It discusses the training needs of criminal justice practitioners, including law enforcement officers, court personnel, and correctional officers. The chapter also discusses the inadequacy of training in recognizing and effectively interacting with offenders with special needs. It offers some suggestions for refining training to improve outcomes for criminal justice practitioners and criminal justice-involved special needs offenders. The chapter overviews the American Correctional Association Accreditation Standards for jail and prisons and how accreditation improves the operation of correctional facilities and quality of services for inmates. Criminal justice agencies often have limited financial resources that hamper their ability to provide appropriate training for correctional personnel and services to offenders. The chapter concludes how limited resources affect the ability to train correctional officers adequately and hinder the delivery of services to offenders with special needs.
