NCJ Number
156575
Date Published
1991
Length
11 pages
Annotation
The Sex Offender Treatment Program at the Twin Rivers Correctional Center in Washington was compared with the Sex Offender Treatment and Evaluation Project at California's Atascadero State Hospital to determine whether the Twin Rivers program could rely on the extensive evaluation and outcome studies being conducted at the California project as a reflection of their own treatment effectiveness.
Abstract
The comparison focused on the programs' missions, locations, eligibility and discharge criteria, treatment withdrawals, participant characteristics, staffing levels, treatment orientations and activities, and aftercare services. Results revealed that although the programs had some similarities, they had major differences in their missions, types of offenders treated, staffing levels, and overall treatment orientations and modalities. The magnitude of these differences suggested that the likely outcomes of these two programs would not necessarily be comparable. Recommendations for evaluating the Twin Rivers program include ongoing monitoring of recidivism among released participants, tracking of recidivism of inmates who declined participation in the program, measurement of reoffense rates of participants who withdrew or are terminated, and comparison of recidivism among those completing treatment and those paroled before completing treatment.