Community Justice Files 12
| Author | Jane Dominey |
| Pages | 81-86 |
Jane Dominey
80
Community Justice Files 12
81
Community Justice Files 12
Jane Dominey, De Montfort University
Cognitive Skills Programmes and
Female Prisoners
Home Office Research Findings 276 reports the evaluation of cognitive skills programmes
with female prisoners. The evaluation assessed whether the Enhanced Thinking Skills and
Reasoning and Rehabilitation programmes had been successful in reducing reoffending.
The sample consisted of 180 offenders who started these programmes between 1996 and
2000. It included the small number of prisoners who began but did not complete the
programme. This sample was compared with a comparison group (of 540 prisoners) who
had not undertaken a programme whilst in custody.
The evaluation concludes that there were no statistically significant differences in one
and two year reconviction rates between those female offenders who participated in the
programmes and the matched comparison group that did not. This conclusion is similar to
that reached in studies of the same programmes delivered to adult male prisoners and to
young offenders. The report discusses a number of possible explanations for this outcome.
These explanations include limitations in theory, programme implementation and
evaluation methodology.
The authors of the report argue that the ETS and R&R programmes in the study could be
viewed as inappropriate for the female offenders. Only a minority of the prisoners who
participated in the programmes had OGRS scores placing them in the target risk band for
these programmes (i.e. medium high). The authors also claim that there is no clear
evidence that, for these female prisoners, the cognitive deficits targeted by the programme
were an appropriate criminogenic need. Finally, they question whether, as the
programmes were developed with male offenders in mind, the principle of responsivity
(i.e. that interventions must be delivered in line with the learning styles of participants)
was adhered to. It is possible that male and female offenders learn best in different ways.
Over the period covered by the evaluation these programmes were not being delivered on
a large-scale basis and some group tutors were not able to run the programme on a regular
basis. This may have had an impact on the quality and effectiveness of programmes. The
prison service now requires cognitive skills tutors to deliver a minimum number of sessions
every year.
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