Correctional Treatment and Intervention Theory: Bringing Sociology and Criminology Back in

Abstract

This essay begins by noting the close ties between sociology and criminology, on the one hand, and correctional treatment, on the other, that existed for the first half of the 20th century in America. That period was followed by the "nothing works" era of the 1960s and 1970s. A considerable share of the analysis in this paper centers on the author's primer on correctional treatment, Changing the Lawbreaker. Many of the weaknesses and strengths of sociologically-based treatment theory in corrections are pointed up in that examination. Two major conclusions are warranted: diagnostic typologies have failed to reflect the diversity of offender behavior, and correctional theorizing by sociological criminologists has been unduly optimistic. At the same time, the "nothing works" or punitive approach to lawbreakers is also flawed. Reaffirmation of rehabilitation is called for, and finally, some new directions for correctional treatment, based on criminological knowledge, are explored.