ABSTRACT

In 1975, as an untenured lecturer at DePaul University, I carried out a study of correctional non-intervention that, I believe, might have set a daunting challenge for today’s era of “correctional programming.” The study was never published, and the raw data for the study have since been lost. But it seems prudent, given today’s debates about evidence-based practice in reentry programming and the like, to resuscitate that work. I want to describe that study, its genesis and rationale; present its main findings (as best I can resurrect them) and describe what I think are its implications for today’s deliberations about correctional policy and practice. I also want to explain why the results of this research have never made it into the literature until now, as perhaps a cautionary tale for young researchers who want to build a career around applied correctional research.