ABSTRACT
Over thirty years ago, in their classic textbook on criminological issues, Roger Hood and Richard Sparks (1970: 71) observed that, while research into the effectiveness of treatments to prevent recidivism was ‘still limited and very rudimentary’, the stage was set for considerably more research to extend the knowledge-base over the next few years. The advances made in research methodology at that time were certainly adequate to achieve that task. Yet, in the decades that followed, there were many countervailing influences that limited the amount of research done. Chief among these was the credence given to the precipitous conclusion that ‘nothing works’, following an early review of research findings (Martinson 1974), thereby shifting research attention away from the question of effectiveness. Changes in legislation and related variations to the official purposes of criminal justice services also intervened, thereby redirecting the research enterprise onto other lines of enquiry. In particular, the rise of the ‘just deserts’ paradigm led to the development of ‘punishments in the community’ based on proportionate retributive principles, against which questions of the comparative effectiveness of ‘treatments’ became irrelevant.
