NCJ Number
74558
Date Published
1981
Length
22 pages
Annotation
Ways to unmask and disarm correctional rhetoric that does not serve rational planning are discussed, and the use of evaluation to improve community-based corrections is considered.
Abstract
The 'Nothing Works' doctrine, which purports to use empirical evidence as the basis for arguing that rehabilitation programs in general are a waste of time and money, is empty rhetoric that is useless for rational correctional planning. Adherents of the 'Nothing Works' doctrine have not adopted a scientific, critical approach to the evaluation research used to suport their rhetoric, and they have ignored the ambiguous, ambivalent results of such research. One of the consequences of the current flocking to the 'Nothing Works' banner by many impressionable administrators and politicians has been the attachment of new importance to the prison as a symbol of deterrence and incapacitation. This development may interrupt for a time the growth of community corrections as a proportion of correctional alternatives, and it may confuse momentarily the choice of suitable goals for corrections. As the distinction between research and rhetoric becomes clearer, however, and as the work of nondoctrinaire evaluators proceeds, a renewed move toward greater rationallity in corrections can be expected. One aspect of this move should be a continued expansion of community-based activity; another should be an upgrading of such correctional goals as rehabilitation and prevention. Notes are provided. (Author Abstract Modified).