Moral Reconation Therapy and Problem Behavior in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections

• NCJ Number: 163402
• Journal: Journal of the Oklahoma Criminal Justice Research Consortium Volume: 2 Dated: (August 1995) Pages: 104-105
• Author(s): D R MacKenzie; R Brame
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 2 pages
• Grant Number(s): 94-IJ-CX-0064
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description

Annotation

This article reports on an evaluation of Oklahoma's use of Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT), a cognitive behavioral treatment program designed to alter offenders' moral reasoning skills.

Abstract

The evaluation used official records of institutional misconduct and community recidivism. It compared the behavior of individuals who participated in the MRT program to individuals who participated in other programs, as well as individuals who did not participate in any programming. The longitudinal nature of the analysis also facilitated an examination of behavioral changes within individuals before and after they began programs. The analysis results show that the decision to participate in MRT and in other programs was the outcome of a nonrandom process; closure on the question of group comparisons is premature, because treatment effects and factors that led to initiation were difficult to disentangle; and among individuals who entered MRT, the program appeared to have led to moderate but statistically significant reductions in the risk of misconduct and recidivism incidents. Limitations of the analysis included a need to better understand the process leading to program initiation, large quantities of missing data, and relatively short follow-up periods (less than 1 year in most cases). 1 reference