Effectiveness of Correctional Rehabilitation: Reconsidering the "Nothing Works" Debate (From American Prison: Issues in Research and Policy, P 23-44, 1989, Lynne Goodstein and Doris Layton MacKenzie, eds. -- See NCJ-120304)

• NCJ Number: 120306
• Author(s): F T Cullen; P Gendreau
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 22 pages
• Sale Source: Plenum Press
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: From Volume 4 in the Law, Society, and Policy series.

Annotation

Both empirical and public opinion data indicate a favorable climate for the implementation of effective offender treatment programs.

Abstract

Although Robert Martinson's attack on offender therapy exposed the gap between the promises and outcomes of offender rehabilitation, it also promoted the "nothing works" doctrine as a criminological truth. Empirical data, however, do not support this doctrine. The relevant literature continues to show at least modest gains in the reduction of recidivism through work programs (Rauma and Berk, 1987), restitution (Schneider, 1986), early intervention programs (Hawkins, Catalano, Jones, and Fine, 1987), and intensive probation supervision (Pearson, 1987). Contrary to what many politicians may believe, a number of public-opinion surveys from the 1980's show public support for rehabilitation efforts, particularly for young offenders. The failure of the justice model, the product of the "nothing works" model, to usher in a new era of crime control and its influence on unprecedented incarceration rates suggests that the time is right for a more vibrant rehabilitative ideal. 108 references.