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2
2
Whatworks?--questionsandanswersaboutprisonreform
ROBER
T
M
A
R
TI
NS
O
N
INTHE
pastseveralyears
,
Ameri-canprisonshavegonethrough
o
ne
o
ftheirrecurrentperiods
of
strikes
,
riots
,
andotherdisturbances.Simultaneously
,
andinconse-quence
,
thearticulatepublichasenteredanotheroneofitssporadicfitso
f
attentivenesstotheconditionofourprisonsandtotheperen-nialquestionstheyposeaboutthenatureofcrimeandtheusesofpunishment.Theresulthasbeenawidespreadcallfor"prisonre-form,"i.e.
,
for"re
f
ormed"prisonswhichwillproduce"re
f
ormed"con-victs.Suchcallsareafamiliar
f
eatureofAmericanprisonhistory.Americanprisons,perhapsmorethanthoseofanyothercountry,havestoodor
f
alleninpub
l
icesteemaccordingtotheirabilityto
f
ulfilltheirpromiseofrehabilitation.Oneoftheproblemsintheconstantdebateover"prisonre
f
orm"isthatwehavebeenabletodrawverylittleonanysystematicem-piricalknowledgeaboutthesuccessor
f
ailurethatwehavemetwhenwe
have
triedtorehabi
l
itateoffenders
,
withvarioustreatmentsandinvariousinstitutionalandnon-institutionalsettings.Thefieldofpenologyhasproducedavoluminousresearchliteratureonthissub
j
ect,butuntilrecentlytherehasbeennocomprehensivereviewofthisliteratureandnoattempttobringitsfindingstobear,ina
 
QU
ESTION
S
NDAN
S
WE
R
SBOUT
R
I
SO
NREF
O
RM23
usefulway
,
o
nthegene
r
alquestionof"Whatw
o
rks?".Mypurposeinthisessayistosketchananswertothatquestion.
Thetravailsofastudy
In1966,theNewYorkStateGovernor'sSpecial
C
ommitteeonCriminalOffendersrecognizedtheirneedforsuchananswer.TheCommitteewasorganizedonthepremisethatprisonscouldrehabil-itate
,
thattheprisonsof
N
ewYorkwerenotinfactmakingaseriouseffortatrehabilitation,andthatNewYork'sprisonsshouldbecon-vertedfromtheirexistingcustodialbasistoanewrehabilitativeone.TheproblemfortheCommitteewasthattherewasnoavailableguidanceonthequestionofwhathadbeenshowntobethemosteffectivemeansofrehabilitation.MycolleaguesandIwerehiredbythecommitteetoremedythisdefectinourknowledge;ourjobwastoundertakeacomprehensivesurveyofwhatwasknownaboutrehabilitation.In1968
,
inordertoqualifyforfederalfundsundertheOmnibus
C
rimeControlandSafeStreetsAct,thestateestablishedaplanningorganization
,
whichacquiredfromtheGovernor'sCommitteetheresponsibilityforourreport.Butby1970
,
whentheprojectwasformallycompleted,thestatehadchangeditsmindabouttheworthandproperuseoftheinformationwehadgathered.TheGovernor's
C
ommitteehadbegunbythinkingthatsuchinformationwasanecessarybasisforanyreformsthatmightbeundertaken;thestateplanningagencyendedbyviewingthestudyasadocumentwhosedisturbingconclusionsposedaseriousthreattotheprogramswhich,inthemeantime,theyhaddeterminedtocarryforward.Bythespringof197
2
--fullyayearafterIhadre-editedthestudyforfinalpubli-cation-thestatehadnotonlyfailedtopublishit
,
buthadalsore-fusedtogivemepermissiontopublishitonmyown.ThedocumentitselfwouldstillnotbeavailabletomeortothepublictodayhadnotJosephAlanKaplon
,
anattorney,subpoenaeditfromthestateforuseasevidenceinacasebeforetheBronxSupreme
C
ourt.1Duringthetimeofmyeffortstogetthestudyreleased
,
reportsofitbegantobewidelycirculated,anditacquiredsomethingofanundergroundreputation.Butthisarticleisthefirstpublishedaccount,albeitabriefone
,
ofthefindingscontainedinthat1
,
400-pagemanuscript.Whatwesetouttodointhisstudywasfairlysimple
,
thoughit
F
o
llowingthiscase,thestatefina
l
lydid
g
iveitspermissiontohavetheworkpublished;itwillappearinitscompleteforminaforthcomingbookbyPraeger.
 
2
4
.THEPUBL
I
CI
N
TERE
S
T
t
u
rnedi
n
t
o
amassivetask.Firstwe
u
ndert
oo
kas
i
x-m
o
nthsea
r
ch
o
ftheliteraturef
o
ran
y
availablere
po
rtspubli
s
hedintheEnglishlanguage
o
nattemptsatrehabilitati
o
nthathadbeenmadein
o
u
r
c
o
rrecti
o
nssystemsandth
o
se
ofo
therc
o
untriesfr
o
m1945thr
o
ugh1967.Wethen
p
i
c
ked
f
r
o
mthatliteratureallth
o
sestudieswh
o
sefindingswereinter
p
retable--thatis,wh
o
sedesignan
d
executi
o
nmetth
e
c
o
nventi
o
nalstandards
o
fs
o
cialscienceresearch.Ourcriteriaw
e
rerig
o
r
o
usbuthar
d
l
y
es
o
teric
:
Astud
y
ha
d
t
o
beanevaluati
o
n
o
fat
r
eatmentmeth
o
d,ithadt
o
empl
o
yaninde
p
endentmeasure
o
ftheimpr
o
vem
e
ntsecuredbythatmeth
o
d
,
andithadt
o
uses
o
mec
o
ntr
o
lgr
o
up,s
o
meuntreatedindividualswithwh
o
mthetreated
o
nesc
o
uldbec
o
mpare
d
.Weexclude
d
stu
d
ies
o
nlyf
o
rmeth
odo
l
o
gicalreas
o
ns:They
p
resentedinsuflleientdata,theywere
o
nlyprelimina
r
y,they
p
resente
d
o
nl
y
asummar
y
o
ffindingsanddidn
o
tall
o
wareadert
o
evaluateth
o
sefindings
,
theirresultswerec
o
nf
o
undedbyextrane
o
us
f
act
or
s,theyusedunreliablemeasu
r
es,
o
nec
o
uldn
o
tunderstandtheirdescri
p
ti
o
ns
o
fthetreatmentinquesti
o
n,theydrews
p
uri
o
usc
o
nclu-si
o
nsf
ro
mtheirdata,theirsampleswe
r
eundescribed
o
rt
oo
small
o
rpr
o
vi
d
edn
o
truec
o
mparabilitybetweentreate
d
an
d
untreate
d
gr
o
ups
,
or
theyha
d
use
d
inappr
o
priatestatisticaltestsan
dd
i
d
n
o
t
p
r
o
videen
o
ughin
fo
rmati
o
nf
o
rthereadert
o
ree
o
m
p
utethedata.Usingthesestan
d
ards,wedrewfr
o
mthet
o
talnumber
o
fstudi
e
s
2
31acce
p
table
o
nes,whichwen
o
t
o
nlyanalyzed
o
urselvesbutsum-marize
d
in
d
etails
o
thatareader
ofo
u
r
analysisw
o
ul
d
beablet
o
c
o
m
p
areitwithhi
s
independentc
o
nclusi
o
ns.Thesetreatmentstudiesusevari
o
usmeasures
o
f
o
ffen
d
erimpr
o
ve-ment
:
recidivismrates(thatis
,
theratesatwhich
o
ffendersreturnt
o
c
r
ime),adjustmentt
opr
is
o
nli
f
e,v
o
cati
o
nalsuccess,e
d
ucati
o
nalachievement,pers
o
nalityandattitu
d
echange
,
andgenerala
d
just-mentt
o
the
o
utside
c
o
mmunit
y
.Weincludedall
o
fthesein
o
urstu
d
y
;butinthesepagesIwill
d
eal
o
nl
y
withtheeffects
o
frehabili-tativetreatment
o
nrecidivism
,
thephen
o
men
o
nwhich
r
eflectsm
o
stdirectlyh
o
wwell
o
urpresenttreatment
p
r
o
gramsare
p
erf
or
mingth
e
task
o
frehabilitati
o
n.Theuse
o
feventhis
o
nemeasurebringswithiten
o
ughmeth
o
d
o
l
o
gicalc
o
mplicati
o
nst
o
makeaclearre-p
or
ting
of
thefin
d
ingsm
o
stdit
l
lcult.Theg
ro
u
p
sthatarestudied,f
or
instance,are
e
xceedingly
d
isparate,s
o
thatitisha
r
dt
o
t
e
llwhetherwhat"w
o
rk
s
"f
o
r
o
nekind
o
f
o
ffenderals
o
w
o
rksf
o
r
o
thers.Inadditi
o
n,therehasbeenlittleattem
p
tt
o
replicatestudies;there-
fo
re
o
necann
o
tbece
r
tainh
o
wstableand
r
eliablethevari
o
usfind-ingsare.
J
ustasimp
or
tant,whenthevari
o
usstudiesusetheterm"recidivismrate,"theyma
y
infactbetalkingab
o
uts
o
mewhatdif-
of 00

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