Rehabilitation has a long history. Undoubtedly, Martinson's work and the phrase "Nothing works “that emerged from his assessments of the concept of rehabilitation are important milestones in this history. The term has gained so much influence among criminologists and criminal policymakers that it may be unparalleled in the history of criminology. However, several evaluative studies have shown that the idea of "Nothing works" has been widely criticized in many ways. In this paper, we examine the methodological weaknesses of Martinson's research. Some of the rehabilitation programs that Martinson has addressed in his meta-analysis have been successful, and some of the rehabilitation programs he has described as "unsuccessful" programs have not been well funded. We then turn to the question of why, paradoxically, competitor traditions in criminology have come to a consensus of "Nothing works “and have highlighted it in an unwritten complicity and given it a mythical aspect. Finally, we focus on the political implications of this myth and its impact on the formation of the “Punitive Era” and strict policies. From the perspective of this paper, the literature on rehabilitation, despite all its failures and limitations, provides a fertile theoretical tradition that can be used to rethink and reconstruct rehabilitation. Any attempt to revive rehabilitation without this critical rethinking and theoretical reconstruction will fails.
Cohen, S. (1985), Visions of Social Control, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Cullen, F.T; Smith, P.; Lowenkamp, C.; Latessa, E. (2009), “Nothing Works Revisited: Deconstructing Farabee’s Rethinking Rehabilitation”, Victims and Offenders, 4, pp: 101–123.
Cullen, F. T., and Gendreau, P. (2001), “From nothing works to what works: Changing professional ideology in the 21st century”, Prison Journal, 81, pp: 313–338.
Cullen, F. T., and Gilbert, K. E. (1982), Reaffirming rehabilitation, Cincinnati, OH: Anderson.
Cullen, F. T.; Fisher, B. S., and Applegate, B. K. (2000), “Public opinion about punishment and corrections”, In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and justice: A review of research, Vol 27, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp: 1–79.
Farabee, D. (2005), Rethinking rehabilitation: Why can’t we reform our criminals?, Washington, DC: AEI Press.
Farrall, S. (2002),Rethinking What Works with Offenders: Probation, Social Context and Desistance from Crime . Cullompton, Devon: Willan.
Foucault, M. (1977), Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. New York: Pantheon.
Garland, D. (2001), The culture of control: Crime and social order in contemporarysociety. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Gendreau, P., and Ross, R. R. (1979), “Effective correctional treatment: Bibliotherapy for cynics”, Crime and Delinquency, 25, pp: 463–489.
Gottfredson, M. R. (1979), “Treatment destruction techniques”, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 16, pp: 39-54.
Laub, J.H. and Sampson, R.J. (2001), “Understanding desistance from crime”, in M. Tonry (ed.), Crime and Justice: A Review of Research , vol. 28. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp:?1- 69
Lipton, D.; Martinson, R., and Wilks, J. (1975), The effectiveness of correctional treatment: A survey of treatment evaluation studies, New York: Praeger.
Lynch, M. J. (2007), Big prisons, big dreams: Crime and the failure of America’s penal system, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Mair, G. (2004), What Matters in Probation?, Cullompton: Willan.
Martinson, R. (1974) (a), “What works? Questions and answers about prison reform”, The Public Interest, 35, pp: 22-54.
Milan, M. A., and McKee, J. M. (1974), “Behavior modification: Principles and applications in corrections”, In D. Glaser (Ed.), Handbook of criminology, pp: 745–775.
Miller, J.G. (1989), “The debate on rehabilitating criminals: Is it true that nothing works?”, Washington Post, March 1989. Available at https://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/rehab.html Pawson, R. (2006), Evidence-Based Policy: A Realist Perspective, London: Sage.
Phelps, M (2011), “Rehabilitation in the punitive era: The gap between rhetoric and reality in U.S. prison programs”, Law & Society Review, 45(1), pp: 33–68.
Platt, A. M. (1969), The child savers: The invention of delinquency, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Rothman, D. J. (1971), Discovery of the asylum: Social order and disorder in the new republic, Boston, MA: Little, Brown.
Sanchez, J. (1990), “The Uses of Robert Martinson's Writings on Correctional Treatment: An Essay on the Justification of Correctional Policy”, Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice (CCJ), Vol 6, Issue 3, pp: 127-138
Sarre, R. (2001), “Beyond ‘What Works?’ A 25-year Jubilee Retrospective of Robert Martinsons Famous Article”, The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, pp: 38-46.
Wacquant, L. (2009), Punishing the Poor: The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity, Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Ward, T. and Maruna, S. (2007), Rehabilitation. London: Routledge.
Quay, H. C. (1977), “The Three Faces of Evaluation”, Correctional Psychologist, 4(4), pp: 341–354.
(2021). "Nothing works"? (The myth of the failure of rehabilitation. Criminal law and Criminology Studies, 50(2), 301-323. doi: 10.22059/jqclcs.2020.305714.1580
MLA
. ""Nothing works"? (The myth of the failure of rehabilitation". Criminal law and Criminology Studies, 50, 2, 2021, 301-323. doi: 10.22059/jqclcs.2020.305714.1580
HARVARD
(2021). '"Nothing works"? (The myth of the failure of rehabilitation', Criminal law and Criminology Studies, 50(2), pp. 301-323. doi: 10.22059/jqclcs.2020.305714.1580
VANCOUVER
"Nothing works"? (The myth of the failure of rehabilitation. Criminal law and Criminology Studies, 2021; 50(2): 301-323. doi: 10.22059/jqclcs.2020.305714.1580