Does within-treatment change in antisocial attitudes predict reoffending?

What is it about?

Antisocial attitudes are an important risk factor for reoffending and therefore target of offender treatment. This study examines whether offenders' self-reported change in antisocial attitudes over the course of treatment has predictive validity for their reoffending outcomes.

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Why is it important?

Our results showed that when using statistically robust samples and analyses, within-treatment change in antisocial attitudes did not have a significant relationship with reoffending outcomes. The findings indicate that while discrete scores on measures of antisocial attitudes may be used in some cases to assess an offender's risk and case management needs, within-treatment change may not be validly interpreted as evidence of an offender's progress in treatment or the effectiveness of treatment.