Reinforcing the impacts of work release on prisoner recidivism: the importance of integrative interventions

Can Yoga Overcome Criminality? The Impact of Yoga on Recidivism in Israeli Prisons

“…In the present study, the γ index test remained significant up to a value of 1.1 to 1.15 (Table 4), indicating the study’s vulnerability to bias only if an implicit variable that has not been taken into account presents a 10% to 15% effect on the likeliness of entering into treatment. The results of the sensitivity test in the present study correlate with the findings of both other social science studies in general and criminology in particular, though are lower than those of medical studies (Weisburd et al, 2017). Therefore, in any event, the results of the present study must be considered with caution.…”

“…The outcomes of MHbounds tests may be interpreted in one of two ways. The first is Qmh+, which assumes a treatment’s overestimation, that is, a state in which treated participants have a greater chance of achieving higher values for the outcomes variable, whereas, the second option, Qmh−, assumes a treatment’s underestimation, that is, a state in which treated participants have a greater chance of achieving lower values in the outcomes variable (Caliendo & Kopeinig, 2008; Weisburd et al, 2017). Because respondents in the present study were expected to achieve lower values in the recidivism rate, a Qmh− interpretation was employed.…”

“…In quasi-experimental studies, as the present study draws on, unlike in randomized-control(led) trials, the process of participants’ selection might cause a bias in which only the best and most motivated patients enter the program (also known as the “creaming effect”; Haviv & Hasisi, 2019). The strength of this study lies in the fact that, beyond the many variables we controlled for, we also controlled for participation in other rehabilitation programs including informal and formal education, vocational programs, domestic violence programs (Hasisi et al, 2016), and the work–release program, which is considered the flagship program of the IPS and which has been found specifically to be effective in reducing recidivism (Elisha et al, 2017; Weisburd et al, 2017). Also, as an indicator of motivation, we controlled for the number of informal education programs that each prisoner participated in.…”

Prison Addiction Program and the Role of Integrative Treatment and Program Completion on Recidivism

“…These findings suggest that the issue of bias may arise only if there is an unobserved variable that increases the odds of entering the treatment by 10% to 20% or 20% to 40%, respectively (Table 10). “There is no clear definition of what thresholds are required for a model to meet a strong ignorability assumption” (Weisburd, Hasisi, Shoham, Aviv, & Haviv, 2017, p. 15). However, the results of the sensitivity test in this study are consistent with other published studies in criminology and criminal justice (e.g., see Kirk & Hardy, 2014; Lee & Thompson, 2008).…”

Can Yoga Overcome Criminality? The Impact of Yoga on Recidivism in Israeli Prisons

“…In quasi-experimental studies, as those the present study draws on, unlike in randomized control[led] trials, the process of participants' selection might cause a bias in which only the best and most motivated patients enter the program (also known as the "creaming effect"; Haviv & Hasisi, 2019). The strength of this study lies in the fact that, beyond the many variables we controlled for, we also controlled for participation in other rehabilitation programs including informal and formal education, vocational programs, domestic violence programs (Hasisi et al, 2016), and the work-release program, which is considered the flagship program of the IPS and which has been found specifically to be effective in reducing recidivism (Elisha et al, 2017;Weisburd et al, 2017). In addition, as an indicator of motivation, we controlled for the number of informal education programs that each prisoner participated in.…”