Effectiveness of CBT

• • Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) aims to change thought processes that underpin behaviour and actions of offenders.  
  • CBT requires commitment by the offender to complete the tasks such as homework and reflective diaries about their thoughts.  
  • CBT is a therapy that can be continued by the offender once the therapy sessions are complete giving them self-help strategies.  
  • During therapy the offenders may undertake role play to act out scenarios where they could offend in order to find alternative ways to manage a situation. 
• • CBT can be used in residential settings for adolescents as a treatment for antisocial behaviour. 
  • CBT programmes vary in terms of the quality of the implementation of the treatment for offenders. '
• • -Changing thought processes may not be effective where the cause of offending behaviour is antisocial personality disorder.  
  • +Offenders may want to change their behaviour to rehabilitate themselves and prevent recidivism, so CBT would be an effective therapy.  
  • +Lipsey (2009) analysed 548 studies and found CBT was more effective in reducing further criminal behaviour than other interventions.  
  • -Howells et al. (2005) found CBT did not significantly reduce aggression in offenders, so it may not be effective for violent crimes like assault. 
• • -Armelius and Andreassen (2007) reported that CBT was effective for the first year of release but there was no evidence of more long term effects so it may not be helpful in reducing recidivism in the long-term. 6c
  • -If offenders lack commitment or have been forced to undertake the CBT programme, there may be attrition and they would drop out so it would not be helpful as they will not have learned the skills to prevent them re-offending
• +Re-offending may be reduced using CBT as offenders are taught to understand thinking processes that immediately precede their criminal behaviour so it may stop them acting in a criminal way.

  +Lipsey et al. (2007) suggests that recidivism can be reduced by 25% in the 12 months following effective CBT intervention, so this has long term benefits in reducing re-offending.