NCJ Number
211114
Date Published
May 2004
Length
127 pages
Annotation
This report describes the features of offender rehabilitation programs in Australia.
Abstract
It first describes offender treatment programs currently offered to adults throughout the country. This information was obtained through face-to-face interviews with representatives from each State's/Territory's correctional agency, as well as from program records and manuals supplied by each jurisdiction. To highlight the strengths of offender programming and the challenges for future program implementation, program information is presented under the following rubrics: theoretical/philosophical, staffing considerations, program referral, program selection, program exclusion, treatment manual, participant profile, evaluation, participant follow-up, departmental support, level of program need, and relationship between rehabilitation programs. There are similarities among jurisdictions. Most, if not all, have programs for sexual and violent offenders. Cognitive skills programs address some of the more general causes of offending. The lack of development of programs for Indigenous and female offenders is evident, however. The types of offender rehabilitation programs currently offered in Australian jurisdictions are profiled, including cognitive-skills programs; drug and alcohol treatment; anger management; and programs that target violent offenders, domestic-violence offenders, and sexual offenders. Programs that focus on Indigenous offenders and female offenders are also described. The strengths and future challenges in delivering offender rehabilitation programs are discussed, followed by more detailed program information that can be used to compare the types of programs offered in each State/Territory. 132 references and appended interview schedule and offender program checklist