Are there any adult corrections programs that work? To answer this question a comprehensive statistical review of various program evaluations over the last 40 years in the United States and english-speaking countries was conducted by The Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP).
WSIPP’s study, “Evidence-Based Adult Corrections Programs: What Works and What Does Not” analyzed the evaluations of 291 individual adult corrections programs.
These evaluations were of many types of programs; drug courts, boot camps, sex offender treatment programs and correctional industries employment programs, to name a few.
A direct implication from WSIPP’s findings was that correctional policies that reduce recidivism are ones that focus resources on effective evidence-based programming and avoid ineffective approaches.
WSIPP found that even relatively small reductions in recidivism rates can be quite cost-beneficial.
Most of the recidivism reduction effects appear to stem from prison-based therapeutic community experience for prisoners.
Cognitive-behavioral treatment designed to help offenders correct their thinking and provide opportunities to model and practice problem-solving and pro-social skills resulted in an pragmatic use of resources for curtailing recidivism.
Programs for sex-offenders: Psychotherapy/Behavioral therapy involving insight-oriented individual or group counseling did not significantly reduce recidivism, but cognitive-behavioral therapy while on probation did have a significant effect on recidivism.
To achieve significant reductions in recidivism rates by using intensive supervision, a focus on treatment is crucial.
Evaluations of in-prison correctional industry programs, programs that teach remedial educational skills to adult offenders when they are in prison, community based employment training, job search, job assistance programs for adult offenders vocational training programs for offenders while they are in prison found on average these programs produce a statistically significant reduction in recidivism rates.
Rigorous evaluations of adult boot camps, electronic monitoring, victim-offender mediation, family group conferences or restitution programs (Restorative Justice) were conducted and it was found, on average, they do not produce a statistically significant reduction in re-offense rates.
The lesson from this research is, treatment, not intensive monitoring, reduces recidivism.
[Suggested citation: Steve Aos, Marna Miller, and Elizabeth Drake (2006). Evidence-based Adult Corrections Programs: What Works and What Does Not. Olympia: Washington State Institute for Public Policy]
110 Fifth Avenue Southeast, Suite 214 – PO Box 40999 – Olympia, WA 98504-0999, (360) 586-2677 – www.wsipp.wa.gov, .
