Evaluation of CBT for Treating the Offender Flashcards
+ Re-offending rates
Friendship (2002) found that re-offending rates for prisoners who received CBT were 14% lower than for those who hadn’t
- Delivery and prisoner intelligence
A major issue with CBT is that in order for it to be effective, it must be delivered by competent therapists and the prisoners must have a reasonably high IQ of at least 80, good literacy skills, and be highly motivated
- Designed for men
Cognitive therapies have been designed with male prisoners in mind and therefore may be inappropriate for women
- Cann (2006)
Cann gave 180 female prisoners one of two types of CBT and compared them to 540 female prisoners who did not receive therapy. Re-conviction rates were examined two years after release. No significant differences were discovered between the groups, although one CBT group did slightly worse and were re-convicted earlier