Findings 226 Understanding What Works: accredited cognitive skills p rogrammes for adult men and young off e n d e r s

The effectiveness of the prison-based cognitive skills programmes – Enhanced Thinking Skills and Reasoning and Rehabilitation – were assessed for two separate samples: adult men and young offenders. One- and two-year reconviction rates for programme participants were compared to matched groups who had not participated in the programmes. Factors which explain the findings are discussed, including offender motivation, duration of programme impact and programme targeting. The views expressed in these findings are those of the authors, not necessarily those of the Home Office (nor do they reflect Government policy) Key points l T h e re were no diff e rences in the one- and two-year reconviction rates between adult men who s t a rted a prison-based cognitive skills programme and their matched comparison gro u p. l T h e re were no diff e rences in the one- and two-year reconviction rates between young o ffenders who started a prison-based cognitive skills programme and their matched comparison gro u p. l These results are in contrast to the first evaluation study of adult male programm