Book Outlines Methods for Reducing Recidivism

PROVO, Utah – Mar 7, 2012 – When it comes to preventing criminals from returning to crime, successful methods can be hard to come by. A Marriott School of Management professor has teamed up with RealVictory, a recidivism reducing program, to publish a book that looks at solutions to the social problem.  

"Helping Offenders: What Works?" was written by a team of researchers led by David Cherrington, an organizational leadership and strategy professor. The book addresses the various methods used to reduce recidivism and compares their effectiveness with the RealVictory program.

"There's a big push for evidence-based results because the government has spent millions and millions trying, incarcerating and supervising criminals," says Bruce Bennett, RealVictory executive director and Marriott School alumnus. "It's a huge issue. Officials no longer want to spend money on a program that is not proven to work."

Bennett asked Cherrington and Stephen Bahr, a professor of sociology, to research the effectiveness of the RealVictory program. The program, which helps offenders align their actions with long-term goals and beliefs, combines a six-week training program with a cell phone coach to help former criminals change their lives for the better. The three were joined by coauthors Leslie Kawai, an adjunct faculty member of organizational behavior, and Burt Burraston, an associate professor of sociology, to showcase their research and the results behind RealVictory.

In their findings, the program reduced recidivism among juveniles by 40 percent. From a sample of 70 juveniles, 28 youth were given the training and then a cell phone coach for a year. Whereas 90 percent of the control group was rearrested within the next year, only 54 percent of those who received the training and coach were rearrested. Those who were rearrested after receiving training and the cell phone coach took, on average, more than twice as long to be rearrested than those who did not participate in the RealVictory program.

The training consists of six classes that invite participants to analyze their personal desires and wishes and then help them see what kind of behavior will lead to fulfillment of those goals.

"We're very careful never to tell people what they should do," Bennett says. "But we help them see that if they want different results, they need to change their thinking, and then we give them some tools to help them realize those results."

The cell phone coach solidifies the training to ensure that the goals are not forgotten. Each participant is given a cell phone, donated by Cricket Wireless, and receives automated phone calls as many as two times a day. The interactive calls check in on the participants and provide a prerecorded message of either encouragement or congratulation from a close friend or relative.

Cherrington and Bennett say they have witnessed many examples of the changes that the program can initiate in people's lives. The rewards of their involvement inspired them to write the book, and they hope the program can go on to influence more people.

"We wanted to get something in the hands of all of criminal justice officials so they could use our methods," Cherrington says. "With the results of the study we published, we can tell someone with surety that we can help. I don't think this program is going to make any of us rich or famous, but it can do an enormous amount of good for a lot of people."

The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, public management, information systems and entrepreneurship. The school's mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,000 students are enrolled in the Marriott School's graduate and undergraduate programs.