NCJ Number
80920
Editor(s)
S E Martin,
L B Sechrest,
R Redner
Date Published
1981
Length
506 pages
Annotation
This volume features a report by the Panel on Research on Rehabilitative Techniques of the National Research Council, plus 10 commissioned papers about sociological theories of crime, limitations on and points of intervention, and restitution. The panel report explores promising directions for developing a program of research on rehabilitation, especially in extrainstitutional settings.
Abstract
The panel report explores the contributions that theory can make to program design and implementation, identifies areas suggested by various theoretical or conceptual frameworks as most likely to yield knowledge relevant to policy change, and proposes a search strategy for increasing knowledge about rehabilitative efforts. The report emphasizes that rehabilitation research must be guided by theory. Furthermore, intervention programs and research should be developed jointly as a coordinated activity designed to test detailed theoretical propositions explicitly, and intervention programs must be designed for and tested with a theoretically suggested, clearly specified target population. Moreover, the timing of intervention in terms of the age and stage in the criminal career of the program client population needs further study, and a new search strategy is needed to determine what interventions might work. In addition, the report states that rehabilitation research must test interventions regarding the family, the school, the workplace, and the community. Following the panel's report, the 10 commissioned papers provide background support, resource materials, and suggestions for further research related to the specific concerns of the panel. Papers with theoretical orientations include a comprehensive systematic survey of sociological theories of crime, a discussion of a partial theory that violent behavior arises out of violence within the family, and an examination of the origins of biosocial bases of morality learning. Papers focusing on limited interventions include an analysis of crime control and offender rehabilitation in China, a demarcation of the scope and nature of interventions called 'rehabilitation' that would be legal and constitutional, an exploration of the scientific basis for the widely held belief in the efficacy of early intervention, and an examination of the long-term effects of one intervention program. Papers considering points of intervention explore the limited knowledge about the role and potential of the families of adult offenders in intervention efforts and point out characteristics of schools and the school environment that may have implications for intervention. A paper on restitution and community service alternatives calls for further research before widespread adoption of this approach. Tables, diagrams, footnotes, chapter references, and an appendix of participants of the conference on research on rehabilitative techniques are provided. For separate papers, see NCJ 80921-30.