NCJ Number
125988
Journal
Criminology Volume: 28 Issue: 3 Dated: (August 1990) Pages: 369-404
Date Published
1990
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This article uses a meta-analysis to test the hypothesis that the delivery of appropriate correctional service to reduce recidivism reflects three psychological principles: delivery of service to high risk cases, targeting of criminogenic needs, and use of styles and modes of cognitive and behavioral treatment that are matched with client need and learning.
Abstract
The findings of the meta-analysis suggest that there is a basis for political reaffirmation of rehabilitation; that appropriate correctional services appear to work better than criminal sanctions not involving rehabilitative service and better than services less consistent with principles of effective rehabilitation. According to the analysis, appropriate treatment reduced recidivism rates by over 50 percent and there was a significant correlation between effect size estimates and the type of treatment used. One surprising result of the research was that the effects of inappropriate service were more negative in residential settings, and the positive effects more attenuated, than in community-based programs. The authors call for more research evaluating correctional services. 2 tables, 150 references, and 1 appendix.