The influence of client risks and treatment engagement on recidivism

Abstract

High rates of recidivism among former prisoners have escalated the public financial burden and negatively impacted communities and individuals across the U.S. The current study used structural equation modeling to examine the effect of static and dynamic risk factors and treatment engagement on recidivism. The results indicated that (1) the level of criminal thinking was negatively correlated with the level of treatment engagement; (2) treatment engagement was negatively correlated with re-arrest; (3) criminal thinking impacted the rate of reoffending indirectly through treatment engagement; (4) neither substance abuse severity nor criminal history had direct or indirect effects on re-arrest; and (5) the effect of risk factors and treatment engagement differed in diverse gender and drug type subgroups. The study provided clinical implications for monitoring the treatment process, designing the appropriate treatment, and predicting prognostic performance of offenders.