Research into completers and non-completers of offending behaviour programmes could have implications for practice
A study by Dr Emma Palmer (pictured) in the Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour has highlighted the importance of ensuring high-risk and impulsive offenders complete rehabilitation programmes and that some offenders require extra support to engage with the programmes.  Â
During the study, which has been published in the Journal Legal and Criminological Psychology. the team looked at 299 male offenders serving a community order with the requirement to attend an offending behaviour programme in England and Wales and examined whether there were significant differences between those offenders who completed and those who did not complete an offending behaviour programme. The researchers used the measures of impulsivity, social problem solving, and criminal thinking.
The study results showed that offenders who did not complete the programme had significantly higher levels of non-planning impulsivity than those who did. The researchers also found out from their results that non-completers were at a higher risk of reconviction.Â
Dr Palmer said: “The finding that non-completers of offender rehabilitation programmes have higher levels of impulsivity than those offenders who complete has obvious implications for practice, suggesting that some offenders need extra support to engage with rehabilitation programmes."