Week 10 - 214

The GPCSL informs effective treatment programs through…

Through the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model.

Three general principles for purposes of effective classification and correctional treatment:

 the (1) risk, (2) need, and (3) responsivity principles.

The Overarching Principles of the RNR model

• Respect for the Person and the Normative Context

• Psychological Theory

• General Enhancement of Crime Prevention Services

Respect for the Person and the Normative Context:

Services are delivered with respect for the person, including respect for personal autonomy, being humane, ethical.

Psychological Theory in the RNR model:

Base programs on an empirically solid psychological theory 

General Enhancement of Crime Prevention Services:

The reduction of criminal victimization may be viewed as a legitimate objective of service agencies, including agencies within and outside of justice and corrections.

Human Service within the RNR model

The typical legal and judicial principles of deterrence, restoration have little to do with the major risk/need factors.

There are two aspects to the risk principle of RNR.

• criminal behavior can be predicted. 

• the idea of matching level of treatment services to the risk level of the client. 

Criminogenic needs are

a subset of a client’s risk level. They are dynamic risk factors that, when changed, are associated with changes in the probability of recidivism. 

Noncriminogenic needs are

also dynamic and changeable, but they are weakly associated with recidivism.

General Responsivity

The responsivity principle refers to delivering treatment programs. Specific responsivity is about delivering it in a style and mode that is consistent with the ability and learning style of the client. 

Breadth or Multimodal

 highlights the importance of targeting multiple criminogenic needs when working with high-risk cases. The higher the risk, the more criminogenic needs become evident.

Structured Assessment

underscores the evidence that the validity of structured assessments exceeds that of unstructured professional judgment. 

the overall goal of rehabilitation is

the reduction of offending by improving the individual's social and psychological functioning through skill development and ensuring they receive appropriate resources.

Good Lives Model (GLM) individual level risk factors

abuse and neglect experiences,

poor emotional and behavioral self-control capacities,

substance use, antisocial attitudes, impulsivity, and neuropsychological factors including cognitive and learning deficits. 

At the family level risk factors (GLM)

 inadequate monitoring and supervision by caregivers, parental discord (e.g., divorce, separation) and exposure to antisocial/violent models in the home

Community level risk factors (GLM)

At the community level youth offenders may come from socially and financially disadvantaged communities

Three key components of effective rehabilitation for young people presenting with antisocial behavior have been identified:

1) a therapeutic intervention approach

2) targeting offenders assessed as high risk results in stronger effects

3) the quality of implementation makes a significant difference to outcome

Strength based approaches

‘positive’ approach to rehabilitation by emphasizing personal and interpersonal competencies such as a capacity for growth, personal priorities and via the utilization of naturally occurring social supports

The Good Lives Model (GLM) is a what kind of model?

a strength-based offender rehabilitation framework the GLM emphasizes the concept of human agency

The GLM’s goals are

to reduce risk while also explicitly aiming to assist offenders to develop more personally meaningful and fulfilling lives; by attending to their individual interests, abilities, and aspirations 

How does the GLM achieve it’s goals?

In order to achieve this, the GLM focuses on approach goals, rather than the avoidance goals (e.g., to avoid further offending or to avoid high risk situations) commonly associated with risk oriented approaches. 

One of the key assumptions of the GLM is that

at least to some extent, all individuals strive to meet and accomplish similar basic needs and aspirations in their lives. These are defined as primary goods

Primary goods:

the outcomes, states of being, or experiences that are valued by an individual and which contribute towards their overall level of wellbeing including their sense of happiness and fulfillment.

From a GLM perspective, the goal of treatment is to

provide individuals with the skills, and assist them in accessing the resources necessary for them to obtain their desired primary goods through prosocial means, i.e., without causing harm to others or themselves.

There are two main routes to antisocial behavior according to the GLM:

direct and indirect

The direct pathway:

refers to instances when an offender actively attempts (often implicitly) to attain primary goods directly through their criminal behavior.

The indirect pathway:

is implicated when there is a less direct relationship between the pursuit of primary goods and offending. could be a result of maladaptive coping strategies that influence engagement in offending behaviours

The GLM proposes that there are four types of difficulties that offenders typically experience when striving to obtain primary goods

1. Use of inappropriate or harmful strategies (secondary goods) to achieve desired primary goods 

2. Lack of scope in a good lives plan which can occur when important goods are neglected.

3. Conflict arising in the pursuit of goods which can lead to acute psychological stress and/or unhappiness

4. Lack of the internal (e.g., skills or knowledge) and external capacities (e.g., supports, resources or environmental opportunities) necessary to live a prosocial life. 

Strengths of RNR model:

• Unifying power

• Explanatory depth

• Empirical validity

• Fertility and practical utility (created a lot of programs and has been useful in implementing programs)

Weaknesses of the RNR model:

• Lacks simplicity and parsimony (complex, how do models fit together)

• Motivational issues

• Proxy nature of dynamic risk factors

The problem of the RNR model is

is that it is deficit focused.

Good lives model is a what based approach?

Strength

Good lives model (a strength based approach)

Emphasis is on…

personal and interpersonal competencies

• People are assumed to have the capacity for growth

• Achieving personal priorities

• Developing skills, coping strategies

The GLM is based in

human rights and dignity

Emphasizes concept of human agency or self-direction

The difference between the GLM and RNR

The GLM is about using approach goal “what do you want your life to look like?”

The RNR is more about avoidance goals “Not doing something/avoiding things that may be problematic”

Offending behaviour:

Problem is HOW individuals seek primary goods

• Counter productive, ineffective, socially unacceptable and/or illegal

Secondary or instrumental goods (GLM)

the idea about how they are going about achieving those primary goods

• Important as helps us understand offending behaviour

• Concrete ways the individual goes about achieving primary goods

are viewed as concrete or specific ways in which an individual achieves their desired primary goods.

Offending can occur through what routes to achieve primary good/s?

direct or indirect

The GLM is a rehabilitation framework which means it can…

incorporate evidence-based treatment and early intervention approaches.

Treatment evaluation

the systematic assessment of the effectiveness of programs or interventions 

Two main types of treatment evaluation: 

Outcome/impact evaluation

Process evaluation

Outcome/impact evaluation looks at

Did the intervention work (looks at results or effect of program)

Outcome evaluations are important because they tell us about the effectiveness of the program

Process evaluation looks at…

how was the intervention delivered, why did it work or not work?

Focused on implementation/ how the program was run.

How and why the intervention worked or didn’t work

Treatment evaluation in forensics:

Typically focused on interventions aimed at the reduction of risk of reoffending

Conducted in challenging environments 

Informs polices and ensures resources are directed to programs that are proven to work 

Challenges with treatment evaluation in forensic settings:

• Ethical issues

• Selective attrition

• Variation in programmes 

• Outcome variable

• Practical constraints

Types of research designs from highest to lowest level of evidence

Randomised control trials

Quasi-experiments

Pre-post test designs

Case studies

Randomised control trials

People are randomly assigned to a condition

Quasi experiment

Random assignment is not possible

Pre-post test

People are assessed, complete treatment, then are reassessed

Case studies

Usually measuring the single indivudal or small group of people

Why use comparison groups?

To distinguish treatment effect from other influences

Types of comparison groups:

• No treatment controls (Receive no interventions)

• Waitlist controls (receive treatment after evaluation ends)

• Treatment as usual (continue with standard practices just not the treatment being evaluated)  

Confounding variable:

A factor other than the intervention that may explain the results we observe

Confoudning variable could include…

• Risk level

• Motivation

• Environment

• Demographics 

Addressing confounding variables:

• Random assignment

• Matching or statistically control for confounding variables

• Use inclusion/exclusion criteria

• Collect data on relevant background factors

What is the primary purpose of using a comparison group in treatment evaluation?

To establish what would have happened to treatment participants if they had not received the treatment

What is NOT a valid method for addressing confounding variables in treatment evaluation?

Increasing sample size