Profile of Correctional Effectiveness and New Directions for Research

Ted Palmer is Senior Researcher at the California Youth Authority. He is the author of Correctional Intervention and Research, and The Re-emergence of Correctional Intervention.

"Moving from his remarkable book, The Re-emergence of Correctional Intervention, Palmer has provided the most valuable analysis of treatment effectiveness research available to date. Palmer is brilliant and his work deserves to be read widely." — Phil Harris, Temple University"The author does a very good job of making sense of the literature and the 'evidence' for correctional treatment programs. He raises important issues and finds a new way to analyze the data. I expect that this book will generate interest among researchers and there should be activity to resolve some of the problems the author identifies. The areas proposed for future research will be considered a contribution to the correctional literature." — Frank P. Williams III, California State University

• Foreword by Michael Gottfredson Acknowledgments Preface Introduction Part I. Profiling Correctional Effectiveness 1. Background2. Results from Individual Analyses and Reviews3. Results from Analyses and Reviews Collectively4. Trends and Problem Areas5. The Absense of All-purpose Approaches Part II. New Directions for Research 6. Conceptualizing Combinations Research7. Further Challenges in Knowledge Building8. Identifying Promising Features, and Overall Programs9. The Global Approach10. Complexities, Tools, and Priorities Part III. Technical and Conceptual Issues 11. Success Criteria and Positive-outcome Studies12. Deciding Factors and Dimensions of Change Appendixes A. The Risk, Need, and Responsivity Principles, and Appropriate Versus Inappropriate ServicesB. Repetition Versus Convergence of EvidenceC. The Percentage of Statistically Significant StudiesD. Implications of Differential RepresentationE. Effectiveness of Differing Combinations of Program ComponentsF. Selected Issues Regarding Control ProgramsG. Offender Intervention ScalesH. Staff Characteristics ScalesI. Selected Issues Involving Sample SizeJ. Selected Issues Involving Parts and WholesK. Definitional Issues Regarding Similarity Glossary Notes References Index About the Author