The institutionalization of treatment for criminals was established by a law passed in 1969 and focusing on recidivists with serious personality disorders, dangerous sexual offenders who were criminally nonresponsible or of reduced responsibility. The sociotherapeutic institutions differ from psychotherapeutic institutions in their focus on social training models and the reduction of deficits in competence for everyday life. The research focused on the 16 outcome evaluations published up to 1985. The followup periods ranged from 3 to 5 years. Although the studies were not methodologically flawless, the results showed that the social therapy had a 10 percent better success rate than normal prisons. Research recommendations, tables, notes, and 70 references.