Essential Components of Successful Rehabilitation Programs for Offenders

Abstract

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.