Hyatt, Jordan, "The Impact of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy on the Recidivism of High Risk Probationers: Results from a Randomized Trial " (2013). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. Paper 644. The Impact of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy on the Recidivi

Community corrections are being used with increasing regularity for the supervision and management of serious and violent offenders. Attempts to increase the frequency and severity of conditions of supervision have not resulted in meaningful decreases in crime rates among this population. Some encouraging results, however, have been observed when a treatment component is integrated into supervision protocols. This dissertation first examines the theories and current research that inform this shift in strategies. Secondly, we evaluate for the first time, a cognitive-behavioral therapy intervention developed to reduce recidivism within a high-risk, male probation population. This dissertation begins with a review and synthesis of the literature, both in criminology and psychology, regarding the development of cognitive-behavioral techniques designed to reduce recidivism. Next, the unique characteristic of the intervention being evaluated are set out in Chapter 3. The logistics and characteristics of the randomized trial itself are discussed in Chapter 4. This section includes an overview of the risk forecasting procedures used to identify the experimental sample and the randomization scheme employed. In the following section, the impact of the cognitive-behavioral intervention delivered in Philadelphia is evaluated. Using techniques standard within experimental research, a significant reduction i