This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Gibbons, D. C. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Gibbons, D. C. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Correctional Treatment and Intervention Theory: Bringing Sociology and Criminology Back in

Department of Sociology, Portland State University, P.O. Box 751, Portland, Oregon 97207, U.S.A.

This essay begins by noting the close ties between sociology and criminology, on the one hand, and correctional treatment, on the other, that existed for the first half of the 20th century in America. That period was followed by the "nothing works" era of the 1960s and 1970s. A considerable share of the analysis in this paper centers on the author's primer on correctional treatment, Changing the Lawbreaker. Many of the weaknesses and strengths of sociologically-based treatment theory in corrections are pointed up in that examination. Two major conclusions are warranted: diagnostic typologies have failed to reflect the diversity of offender behavior, and correctional theorizing by sociological criminologists has been unduly optimistic. At the same time, the "nothing works" or punitive approach to lawbreakers is also flawed. Reaffirmation of rehabilitation is called for, and finally, some new directions for correctional treatment, based on criminological knowledge, are explored.

International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, Vol. 30, No. 3, 255-271 (1986)
DOI: 10.1177/0306624X8603000309


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. Pennell, C. Curtis, and D. C. Scheck Controlling Juvenile Delinquency: An Evaluation of an Interagency Strategy Crime Delinquency, April 1, 1990; 36(2): 257 - 275. [Abstract]

				M. S. Vaughn and A. D. Sapp Less Than Utopian: Sex Offender Treatment in a Milieu of Power Struggles, Status Positioning, And Inmate Manipulation in State Correctional Institutions The Prison Journal, October 1, 1989; 69(2): 73 - 89. [PDF]