Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

3 results

  • 6.2 - Evaluating Offending Behaviour Programmes in Prison and Probation

  • from Part VI - Professional Practices
  • Edited by Jennifer M. Brown, London School of Economics and Political Science, Miranda A. H. Horvath
  • Book: The Cambridge Handbook of Forensic Psychology
  • Published online: 02 December 2021
  • Print publication: 09 December 2021, pp 757-782

  • Summary

    In this chapter we focus on the evaluation of offending behaviour programmes across both prison and probation. We start with a broad discussion of the emergence of ‘what works’, the risk, need and responsivity model and desistance and follow that by setting out the argument for the critical place of evaluation. We will outline some of the different evaluation methods which can be used to examine the effectiveness of programmes, as well as the key challenges frequently encountered in evaluating programmes in the criminal justice setting. Finally we review what the most recent evidence tells us about the effectiveness of programmes. Evaluating offending behaviour programmes is exciting and challenging and while the evidence is growing there remains an enduring need for us to put our energies into asking what works for whom, how and why - and growing our understanding of the wider context within which such interventions are most likely to make a positive difference.

  • 8.5 - Evaluating offending behaviour programmes in prison

  • from Part VIII - Research practice
  • Edited by Jennifer M. Brown, London School of Economics and Political Science, Elizabeth A. Campbell, University of Glasgow
  • Book: The Cambridge Handbook of Forensic Psychology
  • Published online: 06 July 2010
  • Print publication: 29 April 2010, pp 820-829

  • Summary

    Offenders in prisons in England and Wales have access to a suite of accredited interventions designed to reduce reoffending. The programmes offered are generally cognitive-behavioural in nature, and address a range of offending behaviours and maladaptive thinking styles. This chapter focuses on how programmes are evaluated in a prison setting across England and Wales. The meta-analytic method has been a useful tool in the What Works area. Once a research question has been set there are many issues to address to optimize the success of an evaluation. These include the choice of methodology, of outcome, of outcome measurement, of comparison group and analysis. The chapter describes the evaluation approach followed in the UK where the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) Interventions Group (IG) routinely collects both demographic and criminal variables on every offender undergoing treatment. It also examines the outcome studies pertaining specifically to Her Majesty's Prison Service (HMPS) programmes.