Learning in a correctional setting: What are the relationships among criminal risk factors, trauma, and behavioral change?

Criminal behavior and the subsequent incarceration of offenders are significant and costly social problems. Efforts by correctional, psychological, and educational professionals to address these issues are well documented and are perhaps as old as the phenomenon of crime itself. Many correctional programs follow the established best practices of risk, needs and responsivity (RNR), a model designed by Andrews and Bonta. Despite this, recidivism rates remain relatively high. This seems to indicate that something is missing in the RNR model. Although not identified as a primary risk factor in correctional rehabilitation research, some studies have shown a relationship between various types of trauma and subsequent aggression, violence, and other criminal acting-out. Importantly, none of the studies was conducted with a sample of male offenders in a community residential treatment setting, nor incorporated the classic criminal risk factors identified in the RNR model. The present study evaluated the relationships among trauma, criminal risk factors, and behavioral change, specifically, whether trauma can predict treatment outcomes above and beyond the predictive power of criminal risk factors. The current study also measured whether the specific risk factor of substance use is a mediator in the relationship between trauma and treatment outcome. Results from a series of structural equation modeling analyses indicated that trauma is significantly related to treatment outcome, both directly and indirectly. The criminal risk factors of substance abuse and antisocial personality pattern were mediators of the relationship between trauma and treatment outcome, but a greater proportion of the effects of trauma on treatment outcomes was direct. More detailed results, implications, and suggestions for future directions are discussed.