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Abstract: 

This issue of “Worth Reading” reviews a research study whose title poses a question many assume must be answered in the affirmative: “Does Release Planning for Serious and Persistent Mental Illness Offenders Reduce Recidivism?” The results from an outcome evaluation by Grant Duwe of the Minnesota Department of Corrections, published in the Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, may disappoint and frustrate many in the field: Duwe found that Minnesota’s release planning program for SPMI (serious and persistent mental illness) offenders appeared to have little or no significant effect on the likelihood of returning to prison. As this review points out, Duwe’s findings are less than conclusive, and serve to point to the need for additional study as well as the more careful design of reentry services.

Keywords: Release Planning

Affiliations:  1: UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs.