Careful reading of the literature on the psychology of criminal conduct and of prior reviews of studies of treatment effects suggests that neither criminal sanctioning without provision of rehabilitative service nor servicing without reference to clinical principles of rehabilitation will succeed in reducing recidivism. What works, in our view, is the delivery of appropriate correctional service, and appropriate service reflects three psychological principles: (1) delivery of service to higher risk cases, (2) targeting of criminogenic needs, and (3) use of styles and modes of treatment (e.g., cognitive and behavioral) that are matched with client need and learning styles. These principles were applied to studies of juvenile and adult correctional treatment, which yielded 154 phi coefficients that summarized the magnitude and direction of the impact of treatment on recidivism. The effect of appropriate correctional service (mean phi = .30) was significantly (p <.05) greater than that of unspecified correctional service (.13), and both were more effective than inappropriate service (−.06) and non-service criminal sanctioning (−.07). Service was effective within juvenile and adult corrections, in studies published before and after 1980, in randomized and nonrandomized designs, and in diversionary, community, and residential programs (albeit, attenuated in residential settings). Clinical sensitivity and a psychologically informed perspective on crime may assist in the renewed service, research, and conceptual efforts that are strongly indicated by our review.

Does correctional treatment work? a clinically relevant and psychologically informed meta-analysis *

Four principles of classification for effective rehabilitation are reviewed: risk, need, responsivity, and professional override. Many examples of Case x Treatment interactions are presented to ill...

Classification for effective rehabilitation: Rediscovering psychology.

Our comprehensive meta-analysis combined prevalence figures of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) reported in 217 publications published between 1980 and 2008, including 331 independent samples with a total of 9,911,748 participants. The overall estimated CSA prevalence was 127/1000 in self-report studies and 4/1000 in informant studies. Self-reported CSA was more common among female (180/1000) than among male participants (76/1000). Lowest rates for both girls (113/1000) and boys (41/1000) were found in Asia, and highest rates were found for girls in Australia (215/1000) and for boys in Africa (193/1000). The results of our meta-analysis confirm that CSA is a global problem of considerable extent, but also show that methodological issues drastically influence the self-reported prevalence of CSA.

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A Global Perspective on Child Sexual Abuse: Meta-Analysis of Prevalence Around the World:

/pdf/preventing-crime-what-works-what-doesn-t-what-s-promising-1jp2dkc4ik.pdf

Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn't, What's Promising. Research in Brief. National Institute of Justice.

The Development of Offending and Antisocial Behaviour from Childhood: Key Findings from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development

We reviewed the offender rehabilitation literature for the period 1981–87 and assessed the following types of interventions: biomedical, diversion, early/family intervention, education, getting tough, individual differences, parole/probation, restitution, and work. We evaluated treatments applied to specific subgroups of offender populations: sexual offenders, substance abusers, and violent offenders. The hypothesis that the “nothing works” credo has had a pervasive influence and has suppressed the rehabilitative agenda was not borne out when we examined the number and variety of successfully reported attempts at reducing delinquent behavior. In fact, the rehabilitative literature is growing at a noticeable rate; moreover, it suggests several strategies for developing more effective programs. Finally, we speculated why the “nothing works” doctrine continues to receive support in spite of empirical evidence to the contrary.

Revivification of rehabilitation: Evidence from the 1980s

The Reasoning and Rehabilitation Project comprised an experimental test of the efficacy of an unorthodox intervention program in the rehabilitation of high-risk adult probationers The program was derivedfrom a series of sequential studies of the principles of effective correctional programs These studies indicated that many offenders evidence deficits in cognitive skills which are essential for pro-social adjustment and that training in these skills is an essential ingredient of effective correctional programs Compared to regular probation and life skills training, cognitive training provided by probation officers led to a major reduction in re-arrest rates and incarceration rates among adult high-risk probationers

Reasoning and Rehabilitation

A meta-analysis of 46 studies of intervention programs for juvenile delinquents revealed a significant difference between programs that included a cognitive component and those that did not. Cognit...

Meta-Analysis of Rehabilitation Programs for Juvenile Delinquents A Brief Report

Adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse: Prevalence, sexual abuse characteristics, and long-term effects

A quantitative analysis of 44 rigorously controlled offender treatment studies, published between 1970 and 1991, was undertaken to determine if the factors suggested by previous reviewers to be essential to program success are in fact related to efficacy. The results indicated that only six factors were significantly associated with the efficacy of programs. These factors included: (a) a sound conceptual model; (b) multifaceted programming; (c) the targeting of "criminogenic needs"; (d) the responsivity principle; (e) roleplaying and modeling; and (f) social cognitive skills training. The study raised several questions about the adequacy of research on offender rehabilitation and about the validity of many assertions that have been made about the essential characteristics of effective programs.

Robert R. Ross

Papers

Revivification of rehabilitation: Evidence from the 1980s

Reasoning and Rehabilitation

Meta-Analysis of Rehabilitation Programs for Juvenile Delinquents A Brief Report

Adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse: Prevalence, sexual abuse characteristics, and long-term effects

Essential Components of Successful Rehabilitation Programs for Offenders