Cybernetic Model of Correctional Treatment

In the past thirty years, treatment in correctional facilities has been severely criticized. Many studies, including meta-analyses, have emphasized the low efficacy of correctional treatment. The efficacy of correctional treatment (and every kind of treatment) is related to the three main questions. The first is a clear definition of the features that have to be the object of treatment the second is the question of methods or programs which are used in the course of treatment; while the third, is the question of the monitoring of the treatment process. Adequate monitoring of the treatment process is possible only in the event that the treatment programming and the evaluation of its effects are undertaken individually, in short intervals or, in other words, at several transition time points from the initialto the final treatment point. The feedback about the effects of treatment is analysed by a personal computer at each transition time point. According to the results obtained, modification in group and individualized treatment programming takes place successively at each transition time point. The proposed model consists of three levels; the first level performs a comparison of results between the transition time points; the second level, using hierarchical cluster analysis, forms larger groups of inmates convenient for group programming, and the third level, using hierarchical cluster analysis again, forms small target groups of inmates convenient for individualized programming. Thanks to their great speed of data processing and immense possibilities of data storage, personal computers allow quick decision making about the continuation of treatment at each transition time point. Combining group and individualized programming, provisional treatment programs are modified to satisfy the needs of inmates throughout the treatment process.