Cognitive-behavioral treatment to prevent offending and to rehabilitate offenders

This essay reviews evidence-based treatments that include cognitive-behavioral interventions to target offending. Identifying what works in reducing recidivism and in preventing crime has proved challenging, not because of the absence of scientific research and valid programs, but because the heterogeneity of offenders makes it difficult to guarantee that what works with some offenders will work in all conditions, and at all times. Differences amongst offenders (elderly vs adults vs juveniles; males vs females; violent vs sexual vs general; one-timers vs persisters vs chronics), in different settings (correction vs probation vs community), with different needs (intellectually disabled vs non-intellectually disabled individuals; mentally disordered offenders; ethnic minority offenders), at different times in their criminal careers (early onsetters vs late onsetters) require the scrupulous assessment of risk, needs and responsivity, and an individualized plan for intervention and treatment.This essay is organized in five sections. Section I briefly describes the theoretical principles of CBT, and then presents an overview of some of the most effective programs in criminological settings. In section II, the recognition of criminal behavior as multidetermined by a multiplicity of factors and criminogenic needs requires multi-modal types of treatment to respond to the complexity of aspects involved in its onset and its persistence. A critical analysis of research findings is presented by looking first at some of the variations in CBT interventions in section III, and then by exploring the X factor of their effectiveness in section IV. Section V refers to the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR), which integrates scientific accurateness with integrity.