Evaluation Research on Correctional Treatment in West Germany: A Meta-analysis (From Criminal Behavior and the Justice System: Psychological Perspectives, P 334-355, 1989, Hermann Wegener, et al, eds. -- See NCJ-116624)

• NCJ Number: 116644
• Author(s): F Losel; P Koferl
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 22 pages
• Sale Source: Springer-Verlag
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Traditional methods of secondary analysis as well as the more recent method of statistical meta-analysis were used to examine the evaluation research of sociotherapy for adult prisoners in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Abstract

The institutionalization of treatment for criminals was established by a law passed in 1969 and focusing on recidivists with serious personality disorders, dangerous sexual offenders who were criminally nonresponsible or of reduced responsibility. The sociotherapeutic institutions differ from psychotherapeutic institutions in their focus on social training models and the reduction of deficits in competence for everyday life. The research focused on the 16 outcome evaluations published up to 1985. The followup periods ranged from 3 to 5 years. Although the studies were not methodologically flawless, the results showed that the social therapy had a 10 percent better success rate than normal prisons. Research recommendations, tables, notes, and 70 references.