A Review about the Effectiveness on the Recidivism of the Correctional Treatment Programs
This study is a review paper which re-analyzes correctional programs and finds successful factors on recidivism. The principal papers rivewed in this study are Lipsey(l999), Gendreau(l996), and Antonowicz & Ross (l994). The strengths of these reviewed papers lie in the extensiveness and the statistical methdology, namely 'meta analysis'. Meta analysis produces different effect sizes from various research and a test statistic(Q value) for the comparison. Particulary, Lipsey(1999) rivewed 400 papers which had reported effectivessness of the correctional programs in English during the year of 1950 through 1995, and extracted 150 successful factors on recidivism. And also he reported unsuccessful determinants in correctional programs. This paper also introduced profiles of the successful programs implemented to jevenile delinquents and adult criminals in the American continent with a intention to share insights with readers for better correctional programs in Korea. Finally, the conclusion of this review is: First, the correctional programs focused on deterrence or psycho-dynamics (e.g., unconsciousness) are not successful. Second, cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy techniques focused on the reduction of individual's criminogenic needs are most successful.