Correctional Outcome: An Evaluation of 100 Reports

This article presents selected results of a content analysis of 100 reports of empirical evaluations of correctional treatment. The reports, which are listed at the end of the article, were systematically selected primarily from those correctional outcome studies published between 1940 and 1960.1 Within these broad limits, actual selection of reports was guided by three principles: (1) the report must have been based upon empirical data; (2) the treatment evaluated must have been dependent upon the manipulation of some form of interpersonal relations as the independent variable, and (3) the behavior to be corrected must have had a negative value in the sense of being actually or potentially subject to legal sanctions. Five preliminary questions are explored: (1) What is the relative frequency of various types of correctional outcome reports in terms of research