수형자의 사회복귀능력을 향상시키기 위한 가장 바람직한 교정처우의 방식은 수형자 개개인의 인격적 특성에 알맞은 개별처우라고 할 수 있으며, 이를 실현하기 위해서는 최소한 다음의 두 가지 조건을 충족해야 할 것이다. 첫째 조건은 수형자를 분류심사의 결과에 따라 그에 적합한 교정시설에 수용하여 그 특성에 알맞은 처우를 하기 위해서 교정시설과 처우프로그램을 다양화해야 할 것이다. 그러나 우리나라는 재정상의 이유 등으로 이러한 조건을 충족시키지 못하고 있는 실정이다. 둘째 조건은 수형자의 분류에 적응한 교정처우의 체계를 수립 하는 것이 요구된다. 그런데 우리나라는 그동안 수형자의 처우를 위하여 분류제와 누진제를 동시에 시행하면서 분류제보다는 누진제에 따른 처우에 중점을 두어 오다가 행형법이 전면 개정되면서 누진제보다는 분류제에 따른 처우에 중점을 두는 교정처우의 체계를 수립하였다고 할 수 있다. 그러나 우리나라는 아직도 중 ･ 대형 교정시설이 다수 존재하고 또한 처우프로그램이 다양화되어 있지 않기 때문에 개별처우를 실현하기 위한 조건을 충분히 갖추었다고 볼 수 없는 실정이다. 그리하여 우리나라는 수형자의 인격적 특성을 고려한 개별처우를 실시하려고 해도 이를 실현하기 위한 조건을 갖추고 있지 못하기 때문에 실질적인 개별처우를 하는데 일정한 한계가 있을 수밖에 없다. 따라서 본 논문에서는 개별처우의 필요성과 분류제의 확립, 교정시설 및 처우의 현황과 다양화 필요성, 교정시설과 처우의 다양화 방안 등에 대하여 살펴보았다.

One of the issues that has influenced correctional policy since the 1970s has been the evaluation of the outcome of correctional treatment programs. While the public supports the concept of rehabilitation and correctional officials value them as effective means of changing inmates, there should at least exist an expectation that those programs will reduce recidivism. The ‘nothing works doctrine’, derived from Martinson's article, contributed in the disappearance of expectation and faith for correctional treatment programs. The reasons why Martinson's article of 'nothing works' have been so influential to academic as well as societal and political areas are explained in various respects: social and political climates of the 1960s-1970s characterized by anti-war moods, racial problems, poverty issues, and women's liberation, the changes of middle-class & liberal criminologists' attitudes towards crime and crime control, the politicization of crime problems, the domination of sociological approaches in criminology, and the lack of knowledge and skills in crime predictions by academics. In the US, rehabilitation as a correctional ideology had been retreating since early 1970s and almost disappeared in the mid 1980s as a goal of punishment, indicating that the retribution paradigm had returned. It is persuasive that such shifts resulted from political and societal reactions of conservatives and liberals toward crime, and are shown in correctional areas. In this context, some scholars has said that the society must move beyond the naivete and exuberance that marked the advocacy of rehabilitation in the 1950s and early 1960s and beyond the cynicism and pessimism that has reigned for much of the last three decades.(Palmer, 1992) This notion has received widespread support. New evaluation studies, including meta-analyses done after Martinson's article in 1974, indicate that correctional treatment programs could be effective in reducing criminal recidivism. And they have demonstrated that juvenile correctional intervention is more effective than intervention programs designed for adults. It has been known that behavioral/cognitive treatment, on average, produces larger effects than other treatment. Intensive, in-prison drug treatment is effective, especially when combined with community aftercare. Education, vocational training, and prison labor programs have modest effects on reducing criminal recidivism and increase positive behavior in prison. Evidence on sex offender treatment intervention program is less positive, probably because the target population is heterogeneous and treatment needs to be tailored to specific offender deficits.(Gaes et al., 1999) The results of meta-analyses seem to show that the programs for probationers or juvenile offenders with community aftercare are inclined to be more effective. There have been major theoretical and methodological advances in the juvenile and adult correctional treatment literature since Martinson's assessment study. Expecially, adaptation of the psychological learning model and meta-analysis as a statistical technique to criminology and corrections have been known to contribute in formulating principles for successful treatment programs though those principles need further clarification and empirical assessment. The following are suggested as principles of successful correctional treatment: linkage with criminogenic needs, multimodal programs for various deficits, matching client learning styles with staff teaching styles, treatment based on risk differentiation, providing skills oriented to cognitive-behavioral treatment, implementing programs with continuity of care and sufficient dosage, and involvement in both program development and evaluation by researchers.

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.