Social service programmes for individuals with a criminal lifestyle

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SBU Enquiry Service

Consists of structured literature searches to highlight studies that can address questions received by the SBU Enquiry Service from Swedish healthcare or social service providers. We assess the risk of bias in systematic reviews and when needed also quality and transferability of results in health economic studies. Relevant references are compiled by an SBU staff member, in consultation with an external expert when needed.

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Published: Report no: ut202504 Registration no: SBU 2024/856

Question

What systematic reviews have been published regarding social service programmes for individuals who have a criminal lifestyle?

PICO

  • Population: Adults with a criminal lifestyle, live in destructive criminal environments or have been convicted of crimes (excluding sexual offenses, domestic violence or drug abuse)
  • Intervention: Support or treatment programmes provided through social services, such as “Kriminalitet som livsstil” or “Moral Reconation Therapy”.
  • Comparison: No treatment or other treatment
  • Outcome: Recidivism, criminal values

Method

A systematic literature search was performed using the following databases: Medline (Ovid), Scopus and PsycInfo.

Two authors independently assessed the abstracts of all identified studies.

Risk of bias in relevant systematic reviews was assessed using an assessment tool based on AMSTAR.

Identified literature

No relevant systematic reviews with low to moderate risk of bias were identified. In 13 relevant systematic reviews, the risk of bias was considered to be high, therefore the results and conclusions are not reported [1-13].

References

  1. Banse R, Koppehele-Gossel J, Kistemaker LM, Werner VA, Schmidt AF. Pro-criminal attitudes, intervention, and recidivism. Aggression Violent Behav. 2013;18(6):673-85. Available from: https://doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.avb.2013.07.024.
  2. Brännström L, Kaunitz C, Andershed AK, South S, Smedslund G. Aggression replacement training (ART) for reducing antisocial behavior in adolescents and adults: A systematic review. Aggression Violent Behav. 2016;27:30-41. Available from: https://doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.avb.2016.02.006.
  3. Dowden C, Antonowicz D, Andrews DA. The effectiveness of relapse prevention with offenders: a meta-analysis. International Journal of Offender Therapy & Comparative Criminology. 2003;47(5):516-28. Available from: https://doi.org/doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0306624X03253018.
  4. Gannon TA, Olver ME, Mallion JS, James M. Does specialized psychological treatment for offending reduce recidivism? A meta-analysis examining staff and program variables as predictors of treatment effectiveness. Clinical Psychology Review. 2019;73:101752. Available from: https://doi.org/doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2019.101752.
  5. Henwood KS, Chou S, Browne KD. A systematic review and meta-analysis on the effectiveness of CBT informed anger management. Aggression Violent Behav. 2015;25:280-92. Available from: https://doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.avb.2015.09.011.
  6. Illescas SR, Sánchez-Meca J, Genovés VG. Treatment of offenders and recidivism: Assessment of the effectiveness of programmes applied in Europe. Psychology in Spain. 2001;5(1):47-62. Available from: https://doi.org/doi:.
  7. Lenkens M, van Lenthe FJ, Schenk L, Sentse M, Severiens S, Engbersen G, et al. Experiential peer support and desistance from crime: a systematic realist literature review. Psychology, Crime and Law. 2024;30(10):1421-51. Available from: https://doi.org/doi:10.1080/1068316X.2023.2203925.
  8. Lipsey MW, Landenberger NA, Wilson SJ. Effects of Cognitive-Behavioral Programs for Criminal Offenders. Campbell Systematic Reviews. 2007;3(1):1-27. Available from: https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.4073/csr.2007.6.
  9. Mathlin G, Freestone M, Jones H. Factors associated with successful reintegration for male offenders: a systematic narrative review with implicit causal model. Journal of Experimental Criminology. 2024;20(2):541-80. Available from: https://doi.org/doi:10.1007/s11292-022-09547-5.
  10. Pearson FS, Lipton DS, Cleland CM, Yee DS. The effects of behavioral/cognitive-behavioral programs on recidivism. Crime & Delinquency. 2002;48(3):476-96. Available from: https://doi.org/doi:10.1177/0011128702048003006.
  11. Redondo S, Sánchez-Meca J, Garrido V. The influence of treatment programmes on the recidivism of juvenile and adult offenders: An European meta-analytic review. Psychology, Crime and Law. 1999;5(3):251-78. Available from: https://doi.org/doi:10.1080/10683169908401769.
  12. Tong LSJ, Farrington DP. Effectiveness of «Reasoning and rehabilitation» in reducing reoffending. Psicothema. 2008;20(1):20-8. Available from: https://doi.org/doi:.
  13. Wilson DB, Bouffard LA, Mackenzie DL. A Quantitative Review of Structured, Group-Oriented, Cognitive-Behavioral Programs for Offenders. Criminal Justice and Behavior. 2005;32(2):172-204. Available from: https://doi.org/doi:10.1177/0093854804272889.

Search strategies

Medline via OvidSP 20 Dec 2024
Search terms Items found
Intervention:
1. moral reconation therapy.ab,bt,kw,ti. 15
2. (program* or rehabilitation or treatment* or intervention* or therap* or prevent* or management or "behavioral change" or "behavior modification" or "behavioural change" or "behaviour modification" or desistance).ab,bt,kw,ti. 1 127 538
Outcome:
3. Criminal Behavior/ 477
4. Criminals/ 6692
5. Criminal Psychology/ 3055
6. Recidivism/ 726
7. ((crimin* or offender*) adj4 (lifestyle* or "way of life" or thinking or behavior or behaviour or mindset*)).ab,bt,kf,ti. 2610
8. (recidivism or reoffen* or re-offen* or repeat* offen* or re-incarcerat* or reincarcerat* or re-arrest* or rearrest* or re-convict* or reconvict* or repeat* convict*).ab,bt,kf,ti. 6142
9. ((rehabilit* or relaps*) adj4 (crime* or crimin* or offen*)).ab,bt,kf,ti. 429
10. or/6-12 16 850
Study types: systematic reviews and meta-analysis
11. ((Systematic Review/ or Meta-Analysis/ or Cochrane Database Syst Rev.ja. or ((systematic adj4 review) or "meta analys*" or metaanalys*).ti,bt,ab.) not (editorial/ or letter/ or case reports/))  
Combined sets:
12. 2 and 10 7826
13. 1 or 12 7827
14. 11 and 13 445
Final result
15.   445
/ = Term from the MeSH controlled vocabulary;.ti,ab = Title or abstract; .tw = Title or abstract; .kf = Keywords; .kw = Keywords, exact; .bt = Book title. NLM Bookshelf; .pt = Publication type; .ja = Journal abbreviation; .af = All fields; adjn = Adjacent. Proximity operator retrieving adjacent words, adj3 retrieves records with search terms within two terms from each other; * or $ = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase

 

Scopus via scopus.com 20 Dec 2024
Search terms Items found
Intervention:
1. TITLE-ABS-KEY ("Moral Reconation Therapy") 23
2. TITLE-ABS-KEY (program* OR rehabilitation OR treatment* OR intervention* OR therap* OR prevent* OR management OR "behavioral change" OR "behavior modification" OR "behavioural change" OR "behaviour modification" OR desistance) 24 713 560
Outcome:
3. TITLE-ABS-KEY ( ( crimin* OR offender*) W/3 ( lifestyle* OR "way of life" OR thinking OR behavior OR behaviour OR mindset* ) ) 17 824
4. TITLE-ABS-KEY ( recidivism OR reoffen* OR "re offen*" OR "repeat* offen*" OR "re incarcerat*" OR reincarcerat* OR "re arrest*" OR rearrest* OR "re convict*" OR reconvict* OR "repeat* convict*" ) 16 842
5. TITLE-ABS-KEY ( ( rehabilit* OR relaps* ) W/3 ( crime* OR crimin* OR offen* ) ) 2097
6. 4 OR 5 OR 6 34 610
Study types: systematic reviews and meta-analysis
7. TITLE-ABS-KEY ( ( systematic W/2 review ) OR "meta analy*" OR metaanaly* ) AND (EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “le”) OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “ed”) OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “ch”) OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “cp”))  
Combined sets:
8. 2 AND 6 19 284
9. 1 OR 8 19 288
10. 7 AND 9 875
Final result
11.   875
TITLE-ABS-KEY = Title, abstract or keywords (including indexed keywords and author keywords); ALL = All fields; W/n = Within. Proximity operator retrieving terms within n words from each other; PRE/n = Precedes by. Proximity operator, the first term in the search must precede the second by n words; LIMIT-TO (X) = Includes only results of specified type, e.g., publication type or time range; DOCTYPE = Publication type; “re” = review; “le” = letter; “ed” = editorial; “ch” = book chapter; “cp” = conference proceedings; * = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase

 

PSYCINFO, Criminal Justice Abstracts (co-search) via EBSCO 20 Dec 2024
Search terms Items found
Intervention:
1. TI "Moral Reconation Therapy" OR AB "Moral Reconation Therapy" OR SU "Moral Reconation Therapy" 41
2. TI ( program* OR rehabilitation OR treatment* OR intervention* OR therap* OR prevent* OR management OR "behavioral change" OR "behavior modification" OR "behavioural change" OR "behaviour modification" OR desistance ) OR AB ( program* OR rehabilitation OR treatment* OR intervention* OR therap* OR prevent* OR management OR "behavioral change" OR "behavior modification" OR "behavioural change" OR "behaviour modification" OR desistance ) OR SU ( program* OR rehabilitation OR treatment* OR intervention* OR therap* OR prevent* OR management OR "behavioral change" OR "behavior modification" OR "behavioural change" OR "behaviour modification" OR desistance) 2 302 200
Outcome:
3. TI ( ( ( crimin* OR offender*) N3 ( lifestyle* OR "way of life" OR thinking OR behavior OR behaviour OR mindset* ) ) ) OR AB ( ( ( crimin* OR offender*) N3 ( lifestyle* OR "way of life" OR thinking OR behavior OR behaviour OR mindset* ) ) ) OR SU ( ( ( crimin* OR offender*) N3 ( lifestyle* OR "way of life" OR thinking OR behavior OR behaviour OR mindset* ) ) ) 23 249
4. TI ( recidivism OR reoffen* OR "re offen*" OR "repeat* offen*" OR "re incarcerat*" OR reincarcerat* OR "re arrest*" OR rearrest* OR "re convict*" OR reconvict* OR "repeat* convict*" ) OR AB ( recidivism OR reoffen* OR "re offen*" OR "repeat* offen*" OR "re incarcerat*" OR reincarcerat* OR "re arrest*" OR rearrest* OR "re convict*" OR reconvict* OR "repeat* convict*" ) OR SU (recidivism OR reoffen* OR "re offen*" OR "repeat* offen*" OR "re incarcerat*" OR reincarcerat* OR "re arrest*" OR rearrest* OR "re convict*" OR reconvict* OR "repeat* convict*" ) 22 491
5. TI ( ( ( rehabilit* OR relaps* ) N3 ( crime* OR crimin* OR offen* ) ) ) OR AB ( ( ( rehabilit* OR relaps* ) N3 ( crime* OR crimin* OR offen* ) ) ) OR SU ( ( ( rehabilit* OR relaps* ) N3 ( crime* OR crimin* OR offen* ) ) ) 7691
6. 3 OR 4 OR 5 48 216
Study types: systematic reviews and meta-analysis
7. TI((systematic n3 review) OR "meta analys*" OR metaanalys*) OR AB((systematic n3 review) OR "meta analys*" OR metaanalys*) OR SU((systematic n3 review) OR "meta analys*" OR metaanalys*) OR (MR "Systematic Review" OR MR "meta analysis")  
Combined sets:
8. 2 AND 6 28 489
9. 1 OR 8 28 496
10. 7 AND 9 962
Final result
11.   962
TI = Title; AB = Abstract; SU = Keyword, exact or part (including all other fields for indexed and author keywords); DE = Exact keyword; TX = All text; MR = Methodology; Nn = Near. Proximity operator retrieving terms within n words from each other; * = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase

Citation Search

Scopus via Elsevier (citation search) 18 March 2025
Search terms Cited by
Cited articles
1. DOI 10.1016/S2215-0366(21)00170-X 88
2. DOI 10.1016/j.avb.2013.07.024 38
3. DOI 10.1016/j.avb.2016.02.006 50
4. DOI 10.1016/j.avb.2024.101950 0
5. DOI 10.1177/0306624X03253018 112
6. DOI 10.1016/j.cpr.2019.101752 176
7. DOI 10.1016/j.avb.2015.09.011 99
8. DOI 10.1007/s11292-022-09547-5 4
9. DOI 10.1177/0011128702048003006 213
10. DOI 10.1080/10683169908401769 112
11. EID 2-s2.0-38549170020 58
12. DOI ( 10.1177/0093854804272889 ) 331
13. TITLE-ABS-KEY ( ( systematic  W/2  review ) OR "meta analy*" OR metaanaly* ) AND (EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “le”) OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “ed”) OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “ch”) OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “cp”))  
Combined sets
14. 1 OR 2 OR 3 OR 4 OR 5 OR 6 OR 7 OR 8 OR 9 OR 10 OR 11 OR 12 1062
15. 13 AND 14 130
Citing articles
16.   #1-11 View cited by 130
LIMIT-TO (SRCTYPE, "j" = Limit to source type journal; LIMIT-TO (DOCTYPE, "ar" = Limit to document type article; LIMIT-TO (DOCTYPE, "re" = Limit to document  type review LIMIT-TO (PUBYEAR, X = Limit to publication year
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