Friendship Et Al/ Cann - Cognitive Skills Programme

Question 1

What do cognitive skills programmes aim to do?

Answer 1

They aim to change the offenders thinking and give them better control over impulsiveness, increase their problem solving skills and improve their moral reasoning and social perspective

Question 2

Who developed the reasoning and rehabilitation cognitive skills development programme?

Answer 2

Ross and Fabiano

Question 3

What are some of the things that R&R programmes target the development of?

Answer 3

Thinking styles, self control and moral reasoning

Question 4

What is the R&R programme supposed to teach offenders?

Answer 4

Skills necessary to manage a life without further criminal activity

Question 5

How is the R&R programme delivered?

Answer 5

It is comprised of 35 sessions of 90-120 minutes in duration to be delivered to offenders in groups of six to eight offenders bi-weekly

Question 6

What does research indicate about prison?

Answer 6

That it has a poor record in rehabilitating offenders and that many offenders become locked in the ‘revolving door’ of repeat offending and repeated custodial sentences

Question 7

What sort of prisoners are chosen for the Reasoning and Rehabilitation programmes?

Answer 7

Those with a high IQ and basic literacy skills

Question 8

How many subject modules are there in the R&R programmes?

Answer 8

7

Question 9

What was the aim of Friendship et al’s study?

Answer 9

To evaluate the success of cognitive skills programmes for prisoners

Question 10

What method was used in Friendship et al’s study?

Answer 10

Quasi experiment

Question 11

How many groups were studied in the Friendship et al study?

Answer 11

2 - an experimental group and a control group

Question 12

What was compared between the two groups in the Friendship et al study?

Answer 12

Re conviction rates

Question 13

What was the sample in the Friendship et al study?

Answer 13

670 adult male offenders serving a sentence of two or more years who voluntarily participated in the cognitive skills programme between 1992 and 1996

Question 14

What did the cognitive skills programme aim to do in Friendship et al’s study?

Answer 14

Correct faulty thinking patterns which have been linked to offending behaviour

Question 15

How many sessions did the participants receive in the Friendship et al study?

Answer 15

20 or 36

Question 16

What did the skills developed by the programme in the Friendship et al study help the men gain?

Answer 16

Self control, interpersonal problem solving skills, social perspective taking and understanding the rules which govern behaviour

Question 17

What was the result of the Friendship et al study?

Answer 17

There was a significant drop in reconviction rates - after two years they were up to 14% lower than the comparison group

Question 18

What were the conclusions of the Friendship et al study?

Answer 18

Cognitive skills programmes are successful in reducing reconviction rates

Question 19

What happened following the publication of the report by the Friendhsip et al study?

Answer 19

The cognitive skills programme was rolled out across the prison service in the belief that it was a cost effective way of reducing the prison population in the long term

Question 20

What did later research conducted by Falshaw and Friendship et al fail to find?

Answer 20

A significant effect between a treatment group of offenders who experienced a cognitive skills programme and their matched control group of offenders

Question 21

What was the aim of the study conducted by Cann?

Answer 21

To find out if cognitive skills programmes were effective in terms of lowering reconviction rates for a sample of women prisoners

Question 22

What was the sample used in Cann’s study?

Answer 22

180 female offenders who had started Enhanced Thinking Skills or R&R between 1996 and 2000

Question 23

What did the comparison group in Cann’s study consist of?

Answer 23

540 offenders who did not participate in these programmes

Question 24

What was calculated for all of the women in the Cann study?

Answer 24

The expected 2 year reconviction rates and the actual reconviction rates for 1 year and 2 years after release

Question 25

What were the women in the Cann study matched on?

Answer 25

Whether they were at a high, medium or low risk of conviction

Question 26

What was the result of the Cann study?

Answer 26

There was no significant difference between the groups for expected reconviction rates

Question 27

What was concluded from Cann’s study?

Answer 27

Cognitive skills training may not be an effective treatment strategy for female offenders

Question 28

What reasons did Cann give for why the cognitive skills training was not effective for women?

Answer 28

Women offend for different reasons than men, the programmes were not appropriate for the women’s needs having been developed with men’s risk factors and the programmes were not delivered consistently in the women’s prisons