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Abstract: 

Enhancing offenders’ motivation to change their antisocial lifestyle is an important component of an effective continuum of care model that strives to reduce recidivism and enhance public safety. The need for effective correctional programming comes at a time when the number of individuals incarcerated and under community supervision in the United States continues to increase, growing nearly fivefold between 1980 to 2008. The use of motivational enhancement techniques, rather than persuasion tactics, increases the offender’s movement along from the extrinsic to intrinsic motivation for change continuum . The Cheyenne Mountain Reentry Center (CMRC), located in Colorado and the site of the current research, uses motivational enhancement techniques within its milieu. This study compares motivation to persuasion care models.

Keywords: reentry; motivation

Affiliations:  1: Community Education Centers; 2: Talbot Hall; 3: Community Education Centers.