Psychopathic Offenders: Ineffective Treatment Programs

Although treatment methods are intended to be helpful, sometimes even with the best of intentions, certain treatment methods can fail. This highlights the need to evaluate treatment practices to help establish what does and does not work for rehabilitating offenders and decreasing their criminal behavior. Research reviews have identified what are likely unsuitable programs, such as electroconvulsive shock therapy or some therapeutic community programs, which generated weaker treatment effects or even had iatrogenic effects (i.e., they made clients worse). Certain ineffective and inappropriate programs such as these only contributed to the prevailing belief that nothing works with this population. As such, this entry discusses treatment methods attempted with psychopathic offenders, which were demonstrated through research to be ineffective, offers possible explanations as to why these ...