Rehabilitation Affirmed, Rejected, and Reaffirmed: Assessments of the Effectiveness of Offender Treatment Programs in Criminology Textbooks, 1956 to 1965 and 1983 to 1992

• NCJ Number: 156200
• Journal: Journal of Criminal Justice Education Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1995) Pages: 21-39
• Author(s): R A Wright
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 19 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article examines how criminology textbooks have covered the issue of rehabilitation effectiveness over the past 30 years.

Abstract

Assessments of the effectiveness of offender treatment programs are compared in 53 introductory criminal justice textbooks: 15 published between 1956 and 1965, and 38 published between 1982 and 1993. The intervening 17 years saw the publication of metaevaluative studies that questioned the usefulness of such programs. The results of the analysis show that, while many criminological researchers remain doubtful about the value of rehabilitation, most of the oldest and the most recent textbooks rate treatment as effective when they take a position on this issue. The results indicate that authors seldom combine meaningful discussions of specific treatment programs, outcome measures, and metaevaluation studies to produce an adequate assessment of the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs. 3 tables, 9 notes, 1 appendix, and 62 references