Rational Choice Theory and Offender Rehabilitation

• NCJ Number: 95316
• Author(s): T Orsagh; M E Marsden
• Date Published: 1984
• Length: 300 pages
• Grant Number(s): 81-IJ-CX-0061
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Statistical analyses of the impact of several income-enhancing rehabilitative programs on males released from a North Carolina prison revealed that while such programs neither reduced recidivism nor improved job performance overall, each treatment did have a significant positive effect on a particular inmate subpopulation.

Abstract

Data were collected on 1,425 inmates less than 50-years-old who were released for the first time during the first 6 months of 1980. The research examined the effect of rehabilitative programs on postrelease behaviors, characteristics of offenders related to economic motivation, the interaction of treatment with these characteristics, and a set of control variables that accounted for exogenous influences on postrelease behavior. The programs included work release; educational and vocational activities; prison enterprise and duty assignments; a community transition program; and alcohol, drug, and mental health programs. Postrelease behavior was measured in terms of recidivism and employment. Those on work release had lower recidivism rates and better labor market performance, but the relationship disappeared when controls for economic motivation and offender characteristics were introduced. Work release appeared to increase the earnings capacity and decrease recidivism of those with better job skills and increase labor force participation for those with alcohol, drug, or mental health problems. Overall, educational and vocational programs did not affect recidivism and employment. Educational programs, however, benefited those with good work histories, nonproperty offenders, and habitual offenders, while vocational programs had positive influences on outcomes for other subpopulations. Prison work programs did not affect recidivism or employment in general, but were beneficial for some inmates with alcohol, drug, or mental health problems, good work histories, better job skills, those serving longer sentences, and those with fewer rule infractions in prison. Participation in alcohol, drug, or metnal health programs was related to lower recidivism but unrelated to labor market performance. These findings indicate that the effectiveness of correctional programs might be improved by systematically matching inmates to programs that appear to be effective with particular offender types. Tables, charts, and approximately 150 references are supplied.