Research examining the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in reducing recidivism has paid little attention to treatment factors contributing to response variability. Using an archival sample of 448 participants exposed to a risk-need-responsivity (RNR)-informed CBT program or no treatment, a multigroup latent profile analysis yielded a four-profile solution: a treatment-nonresponsive group and three treatment-responsive groups. Among the treatment-responsive profiles, reduced criminal attitudes were most predictive of desistance from reoffending. Elevated rates of recidivism and negligible gains following treatment were associated with pretreatment elevations in antisocial traits, risk level, and negative attitudes toward treatment. These findings underscore a greater need for individualized assessment of risk and treatment motivation, the importance of altering criminal sentiments to prevent reentry into the system upon release, and challenge the idea that 200 hours of treatment is sufficient for lasting change. Study limitations and further directions are discussed, including the need for correctional treatment outcome research to better isolate individual differences.
AlperM.DuroseM. R.MarkmanJ. (2018). 2018 update on prisoner recidivism: A 9-year follow-up period (2005-2014). Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
2.
AndrewsD. A.BontaJ. (2017). The psychology of criminal conduct (6th ed.). Routledge.
3.
AndrewsD. A.BontaJ.WormithJ. S. (1995). Level of Service Inventory–Ontario Revision (LSI-OR): Interview and scoring guide. Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services.
4.
AndrewsD. A.BontaJ.WormithJ. S. (2004). Level of Service/Case Management Inventory: An offender assessment system. Multi-Health Systems.
5.
AndrewsD. A.BontaJ.WormithJ. S. (2006). The recent past and near future of risk and/or need assessment. Crime & Delinquency, 52(1), 7–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128705281756
6.
AndrewsD. A.WormithJ. S. (1984). Criminal sentiments and criminal behavior [Programs Branch User Report]. Solicitor General of Canada.
7.
AndrewsD. A.WormithJ. S.KiesslingJ. J. (1985). Self-reported criminal propensity and criminal behaviour: Threats to the validity of assessments of attitudes and personality. Ministry of the Solicitor General of Canada.
8.
ArmstrongB.BourgonG.RicciutiK.YatesE.BoudreauS.FinnJ.GoguenB.MortonF. K.RiveraE.Simonyi McFarlaneK.Mowat-LegerV.RobertsonL.HolmesC. (1999). Report on an integrated service delivery model: Effective correctional treatment based on risk/need assessments, motivational levels, and sentence length. Ontario Ministry of Correctional Services.
9.
BatastiniA. B.HillJ. B.RepkeA.GulledgeL. M.LivengoodZ. K. (2018). Approaching correctional treatment from a programmatic standpoint: Risk-need-responsivity and beyond. In TernesM.MagalettaP.PatryM. (Eds.), The practice of correctional psychology (pp. 283–303). Springer.
10.
BaxterD. J.BurchillM.TweedaleM. (1992). The Attitudes Towards Correctional Treatment Scale. Ontario Ministry of Correctional Services.
11.
BaxterD. J.MarionA.GoguenB. (1995). Predicting treatment response in correctional settings. Forum on Corrections Research, 7(3), 38–41.
12.
BeckA. T.SteerR. A. (1987). The Beck Depression Inventory. The Psychological Corporation.
13.
BeckA. T.SteerR. A.GarbinM. G. (1988). Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory: Twenty-five years of evaluation. Clinical Psychology Review, 8, 77–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/0272-7358(88)90050-5
14.
Ben-PorathY. S.TellegenA. (2008). MMPI-2-RF: Manual for administration, scoring and interpretation. University of Minnesota Press.
15.
BonczarT. P. (2003). Prevalence of imprisonment in the US population, 1972-2001 [Bureau of Justice Special Report]. U.S. Department of Justice.
16.
BontaJ.AndrewsD. A. (2007). Risk-need-responsivity model for offender assessment and rehabilitation (User Report 2007–06). Public Safety Canada.
17.
BontaJ.RuggeT.DauvergneM. (2003). The reconviction rate of federal offenders (User Report 2003-02). Solicitor General Canada.
18.
BoothbyJ. L.DurhamT. W. (1999). Screening for depression in prisoners using the Beck Depression Inventory. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 26(1), 107–124. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854899026001006
19.
BourgonG.ArmstrongB. (2005). Transferring the principles of effective treatment into a “real world” prison setting. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 32(1), 3–25. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854804270618
20.
BourgonG.BontaJ. (2014). Reconsidering the responsivity principle: A way to move forward. Federal Probation, 78, 1–34.
21.
BourgonG.GoguenB. (1991). The relapse strategy test: A psychometric assessment tool of relapse prevention skills: A user’s manual [Unpublished test manual]. Ministry of Correctional Services.
22.
BronsonJ.BerzofskyM. (2017). Indicators of mental health problems reported by prisoners and jail inmates, 2011–2017 (Bureau of Justice Statistics, NCJ 250612). U.S. Department of Justice.
CeleuxG.SoromenhoG. (1996). An entropy criterion for assessing the number of clusters in a mixture model. Journal of Classification, 13, 195–212. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01246098
CullenF. T.MyerA. J.LatessaE. (2009). Eight lessons from Moneyball: The high cost of ignoring evidence-based corrections. Victims and Offender, 4, 197–213. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564880802612631
27.
DiamondP. M.WangE. W.HolzerC. E.ThomasC. (2001). The prevalence of mental illness in prison. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 29(1), 21–40. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013164814732
28.
DraineJ.HermanD. B. (2007). Critical time intervention for reentry from prison for persons with mental illness. Psychiatric Services, 58(12), 1577–1581. https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.2007.58.12.1577
29.
DuweG. (2017). The use and impact of correctional programming for inmates on pre- and post-release outcomes. Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
30.
GirardL. (1999). The Level of Service Inventory–Ontario Revision: Risk/need assessment and recidivism (Doctoral dissertation, University of Ottawa, 1999). Dissertation Abstracts International, 61, 1-B.
31.
GirardL.WormithS. (2004). The predictive validity of the Level of Service Inventory–Ontario Revision on general and violent recidivism among various offender groups. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 31, 150–181. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854803261335
32.
HigleyC. A.LloydC. D.SerinR. C. (2019). Age and motivation can be specific responsivity features that moderate the relationship between risk and rehabilitation outcome. Law and Human Behavior, 43(6), 558–567. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000348
33.
JonesC. (2010). Archival data: Advantages and disadvantages for research in psychology. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 4(11), 1008–1017. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2010.00317.x
34.
KravitzR. L.DuanN.BraslowJ. (2004). Evidenced-based medicine, heterogeneity of treatment effects, and the trouble with averages. Milbank Quarterly, 82(4), 661–687. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0887-378X.2004.00327.x
LandenbergerN. A.LipseyM. W. (2005). The positive effects of cognitive-behavioral programs for offenders: A meta-analysis of factors associated with effective treatment. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 1, 451–476. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-005-3541-7
MakariosM.SperberK. G.LatessaE. J. (2014). Treatment dosage and the risk principle: A refinement and extension. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 53(5), 334–350. https://doi.org/10.1080/10509674.2014.922157
MansourS.BruceK. R.SteigerH.ZuroffD. C.HorowitzS.AnestinA. S.SyczL. (2012). Autonomous motivation: A predictor of treatment outcome in bulimia-spectrum eating disorders. European Eating Disorders Review, 20(3), 116–122. https://doi.org/10.1002/erv.2154
41.
McGauleyG.YakelyJ.WilliamsA.BatemanA. (2011). Attachment, mentalization and antisocial personality disorder: The possible contribution of mentalization-based treatment. European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counseling, 13(4), 371–393. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642537.2011.629118
MokrosA.HareR. D.NeumannC. S.SanttilaP.HabermeyerE.NitschkeJ. (2015). Variants of psychopathy in adult male offenders: A latent profile analysis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 124(2), 372–386. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000042
44.
MorganR. D.FloraD. B.KronerD. G.MillsJ. F.VargheseF.SteffanJ. S. (2012). Treating offenders with mental illness: A research synthesis. Law and Human Behavior, 36(1), 37–50. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0093964
45.
NovacoR. W. (1975). Anger control: The development and evaluation of an experimental treatment. Lexington Books.
46.
OberskiD. L. (2016). Mixture models: Latent profile and latent class analysis. In RobertsonJ.KapteinM. (Eds.), Human–computer interaction series: Modern statistical methods for HCI (pp. 275–287). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26633-6_12
47.
PetterutiA.FensterJ. (2011). Finding direction: Expanding criminal justice options by considering policies of other nations. Justice Policy Institute.
48.
PrinsS. J. (2014). Prevalence of mental illnesses in U.S. state prisons: A systematic review. Psychiatric Services, 65, 862–872. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201300166
49.
RettingerL. J. (1998). A recidivism follow-up study investigation risk and need within a sample of provincially sentenced woman [Unpublished dissertation]. Carleton University.
50.
RosenP. J.HillerM. L.WebsterJ. M.StatonM.LeukefeldC. (2004). Treatment motivation and therapeutic engagement in prison-based substance use treatment. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 36(3), 387–396. https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2004.10400038
51.
RoyR. E.WormithJ. S. (1985). The effects of incarceration: Measuring criminal sentiments [Unpublished manuscript]. Ontario Ministry of Correctional Services.
52.
RubakS.SandbækA.LauritzenT.ChristensenB. (2005). Motivational interviewing: A systematic review and meta-analysis. British Journal of General Practice, 55(513), 305–312.
53.
SampsonR. J.LauritsenJ. L. (1994). Violent victimization and offending: Individual-, situational-, and community-level risk factors. Understanding and Preventing Violence, 3, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.17226/4421
54.
SeiterR. P.KadelaK. R. (2003). Prisoner reentry: What works, what does not, and what is promising. Crime & Delinquency, 49(3), 360–388. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128703049003002
55.
ShawL. B.MorganR. D. (2011). Inmate attitudes toward treatment: Mental health service utilization and treatment effects. Law and Human Behavior, 35(4), 249–261. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10979-010-9233-5
56.
SimourdD. J. (1997). The Criminal Sentiments Scale–Modified and Pride in Delinquency scale: Psychometric properties and construct validity of two measures of criminal attitudes. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 24, 52–70. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854897024001004
57.
SimourdD. J. (2006). Validation of risk/needs assessments in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections [Final Report]. Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.
58.
SimourdD. J.OlverM. E. (2002). The future of criminal attitudes research and practice. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 29(4), 427–446. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854802029004005
59.
SimourdD. J.Van De VenJ. (1999). Assessment of criminal attitudes: Criterion-related validity of the Criminal Sentiments Scale and Pride in Delinquency Scale. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 26, 90–106. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854899026001005
60.
SkeemJ. L.SteadmanH. J.ManchakS. M. (2015). Applicability of the risk-need-responsivity model to persons with mental illness involved in the criminal justice system. Psychiatric Services, 66(9), 916–922. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201400448
61.
SkillingT. A.SorgeG. B. (2014). Measuring antisocial values and attitudes in justice-involved male youth: Evaluating the psychometric properties of the Pride in Delinquency Scale and the Criminal Sentiments Scale-Modified. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 41(8), 992–1007. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854814521415
62.
SperberK. G.LatessaE. J.MakariosM. D. (2013). Examining the interaction between level of risk and dosage of treatment. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 40, 338–348. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854812451681
63.
TeinJ. Y.CoxeS.ChamH. (2013). Statistical power to detect the correct number of classes in Latent Profile Analysis. Structural Equation Modeling, 20(4), 640–657. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705511.2013.824781
64.
van HornJ. E.EisenbergM.SouvereinF. A.KraanenF. (2018). The predictive value of the central eight criminogenic risk factors: A multi-group comparison of dually diagnosed violent offenders with other subgroups of violent offenders. HSOA Journal of Addiction & Addictive Disorders, 5, Article 014. https://doi.org/10.24966/AAD-7276/100014
65.
VaughnM. G.DeLisiM.BeaverK. M.HowardM. O. (2009). Multiple murder and criminal careers: A latent class analysis of multiple homicide offenders. Forensic Science International, 183(1–3), 67–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2008.10.014
66.
WalmsleyR. (2018). World prison population list (12th ed.). London, UK: International Centre for Prison Studies.
67.
WeinrathM. (2016). Behind the walls: Inmates and correctional officers on the state of Canadian prisons. University of British Columbia Press.
68.
WilsonH. A. (2014). Can antisocial personality disorder be treated? A meta-analysis examining the effectiveness of treatment in reducing recidivism for individuals diagnosed with ASPD. The International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 13(1), 36–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/14999013.2014.890682
69.
WilsonS.AttrillG.NugentF. (2003). Effective interventions for acquisitive offenders: An investigation of cognitive skills programmes. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 8(1), 83–101. https://doi.org/10.1348/135532503762871264
70.
WooditchA.LianshengL. T.TaxmanF. S. (2014). Which criminogenic need changes are most important in promoting desistance from crime and substance use?Criminal Justice and Behavior, 41(3), 276–299. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854813503543
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
