CCJ33 Rehabilitating Offenders
Assessment 2: Tip Sheet
I have provided detailed information on each of the 5 dot points that you need to cover (see Assessment Item 2 essay in the course outline) below to clarify the requirements for this essay. Please also refer to the general Essay Tips that have already been provided to you for Assessment Item 1, and also ensure that you have addressed the eight marking criteria for this assessment item provided in your course outline.
___________________________________________________________________________
- Identification of the problem behaviour
This refers to the assessment of the offender and his problem behaviour: You should provide a description of the problem that needs to be addressed.
- Conceptualisation of the problem
A case conceptualisation goes beyond the description of the problem (which is the aim of the assessment) and attempts to explain the existing problem that was identified in the assessment. For the conceptualisation of the problem you are required to include some theory – explain the problem behaviour drawing on theoretical models (e.g. social learning theory, attachment theory, social ecology theory …).
There is not a particular theory that you have to use or that is right or wrong. Rather, it is important that you demonstrate your ability to apply theoretical models as a part of your discussion of the case. The treatment plan you suggest will (to some extent) be dependent on how you have explained the behaviour (remember that treatments generally have a theoretical foundation, e.g. MST is basing on social ecology theory and systems theory, Cognitive-behavioural approaches are basing on social learning theory). In conclusion, there should be coherence between your case conceptualisation and the kinds of treatments you are suggesting.
Please limit yourself to one theory only. If there are gaps in that perspective, identify the knowledge gaps as a limitation.
- What sort of rehabilitation program should the individual do and why?
As mentioned under the 2nd dot-point your chosen treatment should be based on the explanation of the problem behaviour. With regards to suggesting a treatment you should draw from the literature on offender rehabilitation (the reader and the recommended readings are a good start, but also find additional literature yourself – Please note, do not use the lecture notes, or mp3s as reference sources for your essay!). There are not a particular number of programs that you have to suggest (it is not ‘better’ to present lots of programs compared to focusing on just a few). You could for example either briefly overview a range of programs that would be suitable for that particular offender and then focus on say 1 or 2 in more detail (don’t forget to argue why you are suggesting these particular programs out of a range of others) or present a few more programs in less detail. But: please be realistic – don’t just present a random choice of a large number of programs that no one could ever complete.
- What would be the objectives of such a program? How would you evaluate the outcomes of the program? How would you know if the program was effective? What would success look like?
Here you are asked to talk about the objectives of the programs that you are suggesting for the particular offender and how you would evaluate the outcomes (how would you know that the programs were effective for Bill, Nigel or Bert?). This is referring to the need of measuring the things that are targeted in the program at different points of time to be able to see whether there have been changes (preferably in the intended direction). An approach that is generally applied for evaluating outcomes of a particular treatment for individual people is the single case experimental design.
The ideal procedure would be to get a baseline measure of the targeted behaviour (e.g. a few weeks before starting the treatment), a pre-treatment measure (the day the program starts), a post-treatment measure (e.g. at the last day of the program), and a follow-up measure (e.g. 6 months after the program has finished). Generally, multiple methods of measurements (e.g. actuarial scales, self-reports, reports of prison officers, urinalysis …) for each of the targeted factors should be combined at each of the times of measurement in order to obtain reliable data. If the treatment was effective we would expect that there is a change between pre-treatment and post-treatment and that the change is in the intended direction (e.g. that the offender is not abusing more drugs than before or has higher levels of anger than before the treatment). In terms of the maintenance of treatment effects we would hope to see no changes between the post-treatment and the follow-up measurement. In order to being able to attribute the changes between pre-treatment and post-treatment to the treatment there shouldn’t be any changes between the baseline and the pre-test (because that would indicate that changes occur independently from the treatment). So, for example if we have an offender referred to an anger-management treatment whose level of anger had already decreased before the treatment has started, how could we know if the treatment had any influence on this offender? It would be rather likely that there are other external or internal factors in the offender’s life which are influencing his anger and these can’t be distinguished from potential effects of the treatment.
- Based on the current literature, how successful is the program likely to be for this offender.
The 5th dot-point also asks you to talk about the potential success of the program for this offender, but is focusing on a different aspect: Here you should present some general knowledge found in the current literature about the effectiveness of the kinds of programs you have suggested for the offender (e.g. what does research say about the effectiveness of anger-management trainings for particular kinds of violent offenders? Under which circumstances does it work for which type of offender? What features does Bert, Nigel or Bill have that makes is likely that the program will be successful or less successful for him basing on the research findings?)
You don’t need to focus on each specific component of the treatment for a particular offender group (e.g. social-skills training, problem-solving-skills training, empathy training, relaxation techniques), but rather talk about the overall findings of for example comprehensive cognitive-behavioural programs for adult sexual offenders or violent offenders.
Final Points of Note:
- This assignment needs to be written in standard essay format (which means including an introduction that explains the purpose and aims of the essay and outlines the key points that will be covered, a body, and a conclusion that again summarises key points). I would also recommend using headings to structure this essay.
- Also make sure that you have covered all the things explained in the marking criteria.
- Refer to the Assignment format guidelines in your course outline and once again, refer to the general Essay Tips that have already been provided to you for Assessment Item 1.