The clients who stand to benefit the most from treatment (i.e., high-risk, high-needs) are the least likely to complete it. Offender treatment attrition can be managed and clients can be retained through an awareness of, and attention to, key predictors of attrition and adherence to responsivity considerations.
We conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of the Level of Service (LS) scales, their predictive accuracy and group-based differences in risk/need, across 128 studies comprising 151 independent samples and a total of 137,931 offenders. Important potential moderators were examined including ethnicity, gender, LS scale variant, geographic region, and type of recidivism used to measure outcome. Results supported the predictive accuracy of the LS scales and their criminogenic need domains for general and violent recidivism overall, and among broad subgroups of interest, including females and ethnic minorities. Although results indicated that gender and ethnicity were not substantive sources of effect size variability, significant differences in effect size magnitude were found when analyses were conducted by geographic region. Canadian samples consistently demonstrated the largest effect sizes, followed by studies conducted outside North America, and then studies conducted in the United States. This pattern was observed irrespective of gender, ethnicity, LS domain, LS variant, or type of recidivism outcome, suggesting geographic region may be an important source of effect size variation. We discuss possible factors underlying this pattern of results and identify areas for future research.
This investigation examined factors contributing to attrition from correctional treatment and the implication that treatment noncompletion may have for issues concerning risk, recidivism, and responsivity. Participants included 93 violent offenders who had been referred to an intensive treatment program in a maximum security correctional facility. Descriptive information, program participation, and recidivism data were gathered from comprehensive institutional and police records. Treatment noncompleters had less formal education and less employment history in the community. They were more likely to be of aboriginal ancestry and classified to maximum security, scored more poorly on several treatment process variables, and were higher risk offenders. Subsequent analyses demonstrated that very high-risk aboriginal offenders were particularly vulnerable to dropping out of treatment (80%). The findings are discussed with respect to the principles of risk and responsivity.
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