Abstract
Many discretionary decisions made by criminal justice practitioners are partly influenced by progress reports submitted by treatment providers, however little research has examined how clinician ratings of treatment progress relate to subsequent success in the community. This study examined whether ratings completed by clinicians on a large sample of probationers (N = 419) enrolled in a therapeutic community were predictive of reincarceration post-treatment. The measurement characteristics and the factor structure of the assessment tool were also of interest. Results showed a clear four-factor solution with no significant relationship between the derived factors and reincarceration. Implications for policy and practice are incorporated.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Portions of this manuscript were presented at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Philadelphia, PA.
Notes
Note. N = 419.
a Included violence against others (e.g., aggravated assault, kidnapping, homicide).
Note. The Criminal Justice Counselor Rating of Client Form was developed to rate substance abuse clients’ progress in treatment. Data are from men and women enrolled in a 6-month therapeutic community.
*p < .05. **p < .001.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
Note. N = 419.
*p < .01. **p < .05.
As Garner and colleagues (Citation2007) noted, the CJ CEST was adapted from the Client Evaluation of Self and Treatment (CEST) originally developed for use with community-based programs.
Prendergast and colleagues used the TCU Self-Rating Form, a progenitor of the CJ CEST.