Show Summary Details

Page of

PRINTED FROM OXFORD HANDBOOKS ONLINE (www.oxfordhandbooks.com). © Oxford University Press, 2018. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Oxford Handbooks Online for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).

date: 01 March 2021

Abstract and Keywords

This essay summarizes the literature regarding the principles of effective correctional programming-offender risk, needs, and responsivity (RNR)-and the contribution of these principles to establishing “what works” in correctional rehabilitation. Origins of the rehabilitative ideal are reviewed, followed by its progress through the 1960s and 1970s, including the near-fatal blow dealt by Martinson in the mid-1970s. The research response to Martinson is discussed in conjunction with the role of meta-analyses in resuscitating the rehabilitative ideal and developing the RNR principles. Issues surrounding effective prison treatment programs are presented followed by descriptions of several exemplary institutional treatment programs currently in use. Next steps for research and practice in the area are also reviewed.

Keywords: principles of effective intervention, correctional programming, offender risk, needs, responsivity, correctional rehabilitation, rehabilitative ideal, meta-analysis, institutional treatment programs, RNR

Claire Goggin

Claire Goggin PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at St. Thomas University, Fredericton, New Brunswick where she teaches undergraduate courses in research methods and statistics, corrections, and criminal behavior. Research interests include correctional program evaluation, including the effects of imprisonment; empirical research methodologies and statistics, particularly meta-analysis; and knowledge cumulation and transfer. Recent projects include an examination of inscription practices in selected scientific disciplines; a meta-analysis of the effects of imprisonment on offender recidivism and emotional well-being; an examination of the relationship between rates of homicide and capital punishment in Canada between 1920–1949; and a prospective study of the socialization process among police officers.

Access to the complete content on Oxford Handbooks Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter without a subscription.

Please subscribe or login to access full text content.

If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.

For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can''t find the answer there, please contact us.