Treatment Dosage and Treatment Effectiveness

Treatment dosage refers to the amount of treatment required to produce a desired outcome. In correctional treatment, the desired outcome is typically reduced recidivism. Consequently, correctional programs that reduce recidivism are characterized as effective programs. Research demonstrates that there is a significant relationship between the amount of treatment that an offender receives and whether he or she will reoffend. The relationship between treatment dosage and reduced recidivism is not as simple as continually increasing treatment dosage to produce larger recidivism reductions, however. The amount of treatment required to reduce recidivism depends on other factors such as the offender’s likelihood of committing a future crime, what the offender is working on during treatment, and the type of treatment used by the correctional treatment program. This entry ...