Social Skills Training with Young Offenders: False Expectations and the “Failure of Treatment”

Abstract

Alongside the view that “nothing works” in correctional rehabilitation, the behavioural technique of social skills training (S.S.T.) has been singled out for use with offenders. The present paper critically reviews empirical evidence regarding the long-term effects of S.S.T. on young offenders with a view to examining the conceptual and methodological issues linking S.S.T. with criminal behaviour. It is concluded that S.S.T. has been shown to have only very limited effects on the future criminal behaviour of young offenders. Several explanations for this finding are considered, and it is concluded that re-offending is an inadequate measure of the efficacy of S.S.T. programmes as reported in the extant literature. Following criticism of research designs which produce false expectations by including unrealistic measures, several proposals for future research are made.