Does Correctional Treatment Work

1
Does Correctional Treatment Work?

• Andrews, Zinger, Hoge, Bonta, Gendreau, Cullen

2
Political Ramifications

• In the 1970s, societies view of rehabilitation
  changed.
• Rehabilitation became associated with letting
  inmates off easy.
• People who believed in rehab were marked as
  naïve.
• This movement lead to a number of sentencing and
  rehabilitative reforms.
• Mandatory sentencing.
• Removal of certain recreational programs from
  prisons.

3
Introduction

• The goal of the work of Andrews et al. (1990) is
  to demonstrate that
• There is empirical evidence that links rehab with
  reduced recidivism.
• The effectiveness of correctional treatment is
  dependent upon what is delivered to whom in
  particular settings.
• Criminal sanctions are only minimally associated
  with recidivism.
• The attack on rehab is not a result of rational
  science the attack came from broader social and
  political trends.

4
Correctional Services

• Risk
• Higher levels of service are best reserved for
  higher risk cases.
• Need
• Modifying contingencies at home, school, and work
  by way of increasing rewards for non- criminal
  activity may reduce motivation to crime and
  increase the price of crime.
• Reduce chemical dependencies.
• Promote improvement in school.
• Changing antisocial attitudes.

5
Prior research what works - responsivity

• Programs that involve the use of behavioral and
  social learning principles
• Aggression management
• Programs that include a skill enhancement
  component
• Training programs
• Programs that promote cognitive change
• Cognitive restructuring for juveniles

6
Prior research what works

• Characteristics of successful programs
• Use of authority
• Anti criminal modeling and reinforcement
• Concrete problem solving and skill development
• Including rewards for non criminal behaviors
• Overall, highly verbal, evocative, and
  relationship dependent services have been found
  to be the most successful

7
Prior research ineffective service

• Programming for groups
• Without a strong leader of co-facilitator
• Unstructured, peer-oriented group counseling
• AA NA in Michigan prisons
• Scared Straight
• The yelling has been found contradictory to the
  relationship principle that has been identified
  for effective service

8
Findings

• Both appropriate and unspecified correctional
  services were significantly more effective in
  reducing recidivism than were criminal sanctions
  and inappropriate service.
• Behavioral programming was an essential element
  of most of the correctional services deemed
  appropriate.

9
Discussion Questions

• Is it wishful thinking to believe that additional
  research is going to uncover a magic key that has
  somehow been overlooked for 150 years?