1. Cann Impact of cognitive skills programmes in reducing re-conviction 10:19
2. Aim To find out if cognitive skills programme were effective in terms of lower re-offending rates for a sample of women prisoners. 10:19
3. Sample 180 offenders who started enhanced thinking skills (ETS) or R&R between 1996 and 2000. Including non-completers. The comparison group comprised of 540 female offenders who did not participate in these programmes. All offenders were released in 1996-2000 and spent at least a year in the community following a custodial sentence of 6 months and more. 10:19
4. Procedure Expected 2-year re-conviction rates were calculated for all the women who were matched by whether they were at high, medium of low risk of re-offending. Each individual programme (ETS or R&R) was also examined for effectiveness. 10:19
5. Results No significant difference was found between the treated group and the comparison group on expected re-conviction. No significant difference was found between the groups for actual re-conviction after 1 or 2 years. No significant difference were found for ETS, but for R&R the treated group actually fared worse and were significantly more likely to re-offend. 10:19
6. Discussion. These results add to a mixed picture for the effectiveness of treatment programmes. In an earlier study with male offenders, Friendship et el. (2002) found a significant result for their effectiveness but other researchers (including Friendship a year later) have failed to find a positive effect. Cann (2006) suggests the following reasons in the case of females: 10:19
7. Continued... Women offend for different reasons from men and while they may have the cognitive skill deficits, these are not necessarily criminal in nature. Women offend because of drug abuse, relationship problems, emotional factors and financial hardship. The programmes were inappropriate for the women’s needs. Having been developed for men and with men’s risk factors in mind. 10:19
8. The programmes were not delivered consistently in the women's prisons and were limited in length, not meeting the standards in the description above. 10:19
