Working With Offenders
Offending Behaviour Programmes
Programmes are designed to reflect what is currently known about achieving positive results with offenders or aimed at exploring new ground.
Reasoning and Rehabilitation (R&R)
Enhanced Thinking Skills
Think First
One-to-One Offending Behaviour
Aggression Replacement Training (ART)
Male and Female Violence
Domestic Violence
Drink Impaired Drivers Programme
Substance Misuse
Racially motivated Offenders
Sex Offender Programmes
Reasoning and Rehabilitation (R & R)
This programme, designed by Frank Porporino and Elizabeth Fabiano of T3 Associates from Canada has recently been revised to enhance responsivity and learning. The sessions are designed to build thinking or "cognitive" skills in a progressive manner and to move offenders through stages of change - from accepting the existence of problems, decision-making about choices, taking action, maintaining new behaviours, and preventing relapse through learning to monitor and self-correct thinking in new situations. The programme is suitable for male and female offenders. It is suitable for highly convicted offenders as well as those who are medium to high-risk offenders.
The programme consists of 38, 2-2½-hour sessions that can be delivered over a period of 9 to 18 weeks. The programme requires two tutors competent at NVQ Level 3.
The programme has been accredited for use in prison and in the community. A national training programme for the Probation Service took place in 2001.
Developed by the England & Wales Prison Service this is a cognitive behavioural programme that seeks to change offenders thinking and behaviour through a structured and sequenced series of exercises designed to teach interpersonal problem solving skills. It is suitable for male and female offenders who are at medium to high risk of re-offending. The programme consists of 20, 2-2½-hour sessions that can be delivered over a period of 4 to 10 weeks. The programme requires two staff competent at NVQ level 3.
The programme has been accredited for use in prison and in the community. A national training programme for the Probation Service took place in 2001.
This cognitive behavioural programme, which has been designed by James McGuire, a world authority on effective interventions with offenders, teaches problem solving skills and applies these skills to offending behaviour. Skills taught include moral reasoning, perspective taking, self-management and social interaction, and are practised and reinforced throughout the programme. The programme is suitable for male and female offenders who are medium to medium/high risk of re-offending. Early findings however, suggest that medium risk offenders achieve the most significant reductions in reconviction rates.
The programme consists of 22, two-hour sessions that take place over 11 weeks. The minimum staffing requirement is two staff competent at NVQ level 3. The Accreditation Panel granted Think First accredited status, and roll out to 31 probation services took place in 2000/2001.
One-to-One Offending Behaviour
This cognitive behavioural programme has been designed by Philip Priestley and teaches problem solving skills, moral reasoning, perspective taking and self-management. The programme also includes training in social skills. The programme is suitable for male or female offenders who are at medium risk of re-offending. It could be used in rural settings where numbers to sustain groups are two small or for offenders who are unsuitable for group work programmes.
The programme currently consists of 20 sessions that take approximately 1-1½ hours to complete. An interactive multi-media version of this programme may be developed in due course.
The minimum requirement is one tutor competent at NVQ Level 3 but competence at NVQ level 4 may be appropriate where the offender is assessed as presenting a risk of serious harm. The programme has been accredited and a training programme for the Probation Service took place in 2001.
Aggression Replacement Training (ART)
This programme has been developed by Wiltshire Probation Service and is based on the work of Professor Arnold Goldstein in the USA. The programme aims to reduce the incidence of assault, public order or criminal damage by enabling offenders to improve their handling of social situations. The programme does this by teaching a combination of moral reasoning, social skills and anger management. There are 18 two-hour sessions.
The programme is suitable for male and female offenders who are at medium risk of re-offending and who have convictions for violent or anger related offences. It is suitable for higher risk offenders when preceded by one of the general offending programmes.
The minimum tutor requirement is two, one competent at NVQ level 4 and one at NVQ level 3. The programme was accredited in October 2001, and roll-out has begun.
This is one programme with separate pathways for male and female perpetrators of violence. Derbyshire Probation Service has developed these cognitive behavioural programmes in collaboration with Professor Clive Hollin. The programmes draw on Novaco’s work, which views violence as part of a cyclical event and works with offenders to break the cycle of violence. This involves exploring the individual’s interaction with their environment, the way thoughts and feelings lead to acts of violence, and the consequences for both offenders and victims.
The programme is suitable for male or female offenders with a history of violence, or for first offenders of violence with a medium to high level of seriousness. The programme currently consists of 11 two-hour sessions. It is suitable for higher risk offenders when preceded by one of the general offending programmes.
The programme requires two tutors, one competent at NVQ level 4 and one at NVQ level 3.
In view of the limited knowledge about effective intervention, two programmes will be subject to a rigorous research evaluation over the next two years. One will be the ‘Duluth model’ developed by Ellen Pence in the USA, and the other a new cognitive behavioural programme to be developed in consultation with academic researchers and practitioners in Cheshire and Merseyside. No application will be made for accreditation until convincing evidence of effectiveness exists.
The Drink Impaired Drivers Programme
This programme has been developed by the South Yorkshire Probation Service and uses a combination of education and attitude change methods. The target group is male or female offenders who are convicted of a drink drive related offence where there is an aggravating feature such as second offence or high reading. The DTLR have demonstrated a similar approach is effective with less serious offenders. The programme currently consists of 14,two hour sessions delivered over ten weeks. The minimum staffing requirement is two tutors competent at NVQ level 3. The programme was accredited for use with male offenders in March 2001, and implementation is underway.
Two cognitive behavioural programmes have been designed by Philip Priestley and Mary McMurran and piloted in six probation areas. They target the criminogenic needs of substance misuse using techniques of motivational interviewing, identifying triggers, problem solving, mood management and relapse prevention. They are suitable for medium risk male and female offenders, whose offending is linked to their use of drugs and/or alcohol.
The two programmes are actually two separate versions of the same one; a group work programme (ASRO) and a one-to-one programme (PRISM). The total dosage of the programmes is currently under review but frequency of delivery can range from one to three sessions per week. For seriously addicted offenders the programme needs to be complemented by a range of treatment services provided by health authorities and other agencies. These programmes could form part of a Drug Treatment and Testing Order.
These programmes are currently recognised/provisionally accredited. It is planned to implement ASRO starting in November 2001.
Two tutors competent at NVQ level 3 are required for the group work programme and one at level 3 for the one-to-one programme
A programme for racially motivated offenders will be developed following the completion of research into this area. The research will inform the decision as to whether the programme should include other types of hate based offending such as homophobia or religious discrimination. Kate Law, Senior Psychologist, and Danny Clark, Principal Psychologist will design the programme with assistance from the Pathfinder Probation Services.
Three programmes have been developed for use with sex offenders
Community Sex Offenders Groupwork Programme (formerly West Midlands Programme)
Thames Valley Sex Offenders Groupwork Programme
Northumbria Sex Offender Programme
Each probation area has been allocated one of these programmes. Training of staff for implementation of the first two programmes has commenced, and the Northumbria Programme roll-out will commence early in 2002.
All three programmes share a common theoretical framework. They use a cognitive-behavioural approach to target distorted attitudes, the development of victim empathy, problem solving and coping skill deficits, emotional loneliness, control of deviant fantasy, relapse prevention strategies and new lifestyle goals. The strategy of developing 3 programmes enables the Probation Service to conduct a comparative evaluation over the next 5 years, rather than choosing a single programme at this stage.
Sex offenders can be required to spend between 100 hours and 260 hours in treatment depending on their level of risk and deviance. The programmes are designed for all types of male sex offending (child abusers, abusers of adult women/men, exhibitionists and pornography users). There are no accredited programmes for women sex offenders; they comprise less than 1% of the caseload.
Last update: 16/09/03