News - 2006
CEC Research Article Published in Journal of Community Corrections
Roseland, NJ, Jul 20, 2006 - Community Education Centers has announced that the research article, "What Makes a Correctional Treatment Program Effective: Do the Risk, Need, and Responsivity Principles (RNR) Make a Difference in Reducing Recidivism?" has been published in the Spring edition of the Journal of Community Corrections.
"As the nation's leading provider of reentry services, CEC takes pride in its commitment to outcome-based research that continues to prove that our cost-effective services reduce recidivism," said John Clancy, President and CEO of CEC.
The article, written by Dr. Ralph Fretz, Director of Assessment and Research at CEC, describes CEC's latest outcome study results, including recidivism figures for select programs and outcomes for CEC residents compared with national data from the most recent Bureau of Justice Statistics research. The study found that the national rearrest rate is 3.9 times higher than the CEC sample (30% vs. 8%) for six months post-release and that the national rearrest rate is 2.3 times higher than the CEC sample (44% vs. 20%) for one year post-release.
The article also addresses the connection between the CEC core philosophy, the Risk, Need, and Responsivity Principles (RNR), and a reduction in recidivism. Dr. Fretz comments in the article that an effective use of the RNR approach includes a treatment culture that is prosocial, highly structured, and mutually respectful.
"CEC's treatment programs effectively achieve a balance between treatment and custody. As this article shows, the professionalism of our staff and the ability to address the individual needs of each offender in our care contribute directly to the effective delivery of CEC's reentry services," said Dr. Fretz.
CEC's programs garnered national attention in 2004, when an outcome study published as the lead article in the July/August edition of the Corrections Compendium - a peer reviewed journal of the American Correctional Association - found a 30% reduction in the rate of recidivism at one-year post-incarceration for inmates participating in CEC programs. The article was written by Dr. Fretz, Devon Brown, former Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Corrections, and Kirk Heilbrun, PhD, a professor at Drexel University.
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