Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation: Continued Challenges

Although Penn's efforts were readopted into the penal system, not everyone agreed with his method of correctional operation. Other states, such as New York, chose to run their prison systems a bit differently, with slightly more focus on deterrence. It was not until the National Prison Association Meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1870, that rehabilitation began to be reconsidered as a means for reforming offenders. The Progressives pushed for rehabilitation in all aspects of the correctional systems (i.e., from probation to parole) at the end of the 1800s and early 1900s. Rehabilitation then dominated the correctional system as the primary correctional goal until the 1970s. In 1974, Robert Martinson declared “Nothing works” in his research article with regard to rehabilitation. This article incited the public, who subsequently demanded a “get tough on crime” approach toward offenders, as they felt that offenders were being coddled by the [Page 708]system. Rehabilitation now took a backseat to punishment and became a secondary goal in the criminal justice system.

Rehabilitation: What Does Work?

Despite Martinson's claims (he did later recant), rehabilitation can indeed work. Evidence that treatment can be successful for offenders can be found in meta-analyses of multiple studies, single-program studies, and narrative reviews. Treatment programs that are based on cognitive-behavioral, behavioral, and social learning theories and target the criminogenic needs of high-risk offenders demonstrate the most promise. Major factors strongly associated with criminal behavior and offender recidivism include antisocial attitudes, beliefs, and values; procriminal associates; personality factors; low levels of education; and unemployment.

Several criminogenic needs must be addressed when assisting females. It has been identified in the literature that what sets female offenders apart from their male counterparts is prior sexual abuse. Thus, rehabilitation addressing prior sexual abuse is important in their recovery. Another need that must be addressed for females involves therapies to combat their low self-esteem and problems with the abuse of alcohol and/or drugs. Researchers assert that multimodal interventions may be the most successful, because not all treatment modalities may be useful for all offenders.

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