ABSTRACT
The word ‘programme’ tends to stir up emotive responses within those who find a concept of programming people an affront to the primacy of the therapeutic relationship. Interventions with offenders have reflected not only the scientific status of the treatment method but also the prevailing political and social climate. A criticism of the ‘nothing works’ literature was that the ‘nothing works’ conclusion had been drawn from interventions which had targeted aspects of an individual’s problems which had little relevance to offending. Interventions with offenders which sought to alleviate psychological functioning and personal well-being as their primary treatment goal were considered to be driven by a theoretical framework of little relevance to the reduction of recidivism. Cognitive behavioural interventions are based on the psychological principle that cognitive processes affect behaviour and that it is biases in perception and errors in information processing which lead to a range of antisocial and aggressive behaviours.
