Evaluation of structured cognitive–behavioural treatment programmes in reducing criminal recidivism

Abstract

This paper reports the outcome of a 17-month follow-up of structured, community-based, offence-focused, intervention programmes designed to reduce rates of re-conviction amongst adjudicated offenders under probation supervision. Three separate programmes were examined, all derived from a cognitive social learning model of risk factors for repeated involvement in crime. Using a quasiexperimental design, the study compared male offenders who had completed programmes (n=215) with a non-completion group (n=181), a group allocated to programmes but who had not commenced them (n=339), and a control sample (n=194) not allocated to the programmes. Outcome data analysis employed (a) an "intent to treat" between-group comparison, (b) "treatment received" methodology. In order to take account of selection bias, data were further analysed using instrumental variables and propensity scores; results suggested a possible treatment effect for moderate and higher-risk cases. Factors influencing different interpretations of these findings were considered.Keywords Cognitive-behavioural . Offenders . Probation . Recidivism . TreatmentThe evidence base for the claim that criminal recidivism can be reduced by interventions focused at the "tertiary" level has been expanding gradually since the

Cognitive skills programmes for offenders

“…As with R & R, evaluations have shown ETS to be effective in institutional settings with adult male offenders, particularly when the programme is completed (Blud, Travers, Nugent, & Thornton, 2003;Cann, Falshaw, Nugent, & Friendship, 2003;Falshaw, Friendship, Travers, & Nugent, 2003Friendship, Blud, Erikson, & Travers, 2002;Friendship, Blud, Erikson, Travers, & Thornton, 2003). The reconviction data are similarly positive for offenders who complete ETS in the community (Hollin et al, 2004McGuire et al, 2008;Palmer et al, 2007).…”

“…A preliminary evaluation of Think First in the English and Welsh Probation Service (when it was called Offence-Focused Problem Solving) reported significant changes in cognition, including attitudes towards crime (McGuire & Hatcher, 2000). The evaluations conducted in the English and Welsh Probation Service have shown significant decreases in reconviction among male offenders who complete the programme McGuire et al, 2008;Palmer et al, 2007;Roberts, 2004). Cognitive skills programmes continue to develop with, for example, a one-to-one cognitive skills programme for offenders unsuitable for group work (Priestley, 2000).…”

“…The LeicesterÁLiverpool Group have reported three large-scale outcome evaluations, involving several thousand offenders, of three cognitive skills programmes (R & R, ETS, and Think First) following their widespread use in the Probation Service in England and Wales McGuire et al, 2008;Palmer et al, 2007). The strategy adopted in these evaluations was to compare the reconviction rates groups of (male) offenders according to their status as programme completers, offenders allocated to a programme who failed to complete, and a control group of offenders who had no contact with programmes.…”

Experimental Criminal Law. A Survey of Contributions from Law, Economics and Criminology

“…A program aimed at educating juvenile offenders in the Netherlands significantly reduced delinquency, as reported by parents, but not recidivism, as measured with data from the crime register (Asscher, Deković et al 2014). In the UK, cognitive-behavioral treatment only reduced recidivism for moderate and high risk offenders (McGuire, Bilby et al 2008). A program in Minnesota targeting high risk offenders with supplemental case planning, housing, employment, mentoring, cognitive-behavioral programming, and transportation assistance services reduced the risk of revocation by 28%, and the risk of reconviction by 43% (Clark 2015); (also see the meta-studies Landenberger and Lipsey 2005, Visher, Winterfield et al 2005, Koehler, Lösel et al 2013).…”

Challenges of Clinical Psychology and Penitentiary System: Recidivism versus Reformation

“…The prison is have to approximately 1,500 inmates (not including the women and children that live inside the walls with their committed husbands), with additional guest staying in the prison hotel. [36,37] and then creation of vocational and job training programs during incarceration, a reformed education system, a shift in the allocation of funds from education to a budget for parole officers and community treatment centers, and a creation of an Employment opportunity Community. While it will be challenging, in the long run I feel it will prove to be highly effective for the Indian Prison System.…”