Conference Paper/Proceeding/Abstract 422 views
Holistic services and effective practices: Evaluating women’s projects.
Bridget Kerr,
Peter Raynor,
Pamela Ugwudike,
Gemma Morgan
Swansea University Author: Bridget Kerr
Abstract
The politically-driven “rehabilitation revolution” is underway in England and Wales, reframing criminal justice agencies as “market providers” which are paid by results for delivering reductions in reoffending. However, recidivism rates may be an inadequate outcome measure for gender-responsive wome...
| Published: |
British Society of Criminology 2016 conference, Nottingham, England, 6-8 July 2016.
2016
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa31084 |
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| Abstract: |
The politically-driven “rehabilitation revolution” is underway in England and Wales, reframing criminal justice agencies as “market providers” which are paid by results for delivering reductions in reoffending. However, recidivism rates may be an inadequate outcome measure for gender-responsive women’s projects, which have their emphasis on the provision of holistic and diversionary approaches, aiming to keep women (who, as a service-user group, present a low risk of re-offending in any case) out of the disproportionately punitive prison system. The field of offender rehabilitation has benefited from an immense amount of theoretical and research activity and there is now a vast body of consistent, rigorously-tested statistical evidence that supports the importance of the risk, need and responsivity (RNR) principles in delivering effective interventions. It has become clear that, subsequent to generations of women having been left behind by research, policy and practice as “correctional afterthoughts”, the RNR model can embrace women-centred work in the field and be used to develop integrative, evidence-based, gender-responsive and desistance-focused approaches. However, failings in implementation of the RNR model have led to deficits in service delivery for both male and female offenders. To address the gap between principle and practice, the Correctional Program Assessment Inventory (CPAI) (Gendreau et al, 2010) was designed to measure how closely rehabilitative work adheres to the model. The CPAI-2010 is being piloted in England and Wales by Swansea Service Evaluation Team (SSET) and, in answer to feedback from a women’s programme in Wales, work is now being undertaken to develop an evidence-based, gender-responsive inventory to address the holistic evaluation needs of women’s projects. The aim of this approach is to allow women’s projects to articulate the work they do and enable them to measure the effectiveness of work carried out in safe spaces through holistic practices and for social benefits. |
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| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |