Third, halfway house staff members appeared justified in sending back to prison those who violated parole conditions. Of the 636 instances of parole violations coming before the Board of Pardons hearings in the first half of fiscal year 1994, we found that 81 percent of parolees had violated at least one or more provisions of their general parole agreement, primarily displaying new criminal behaviors. Another 19 percent violated special parole conditions. We focused on 14 cases, or 2 percent, of the parolees who were sent back to prison for failure to complete the sex therapy program in the halfway house. Further, given limitations of time and resources, it would be impractical for our office to conduct random, control group experiments as to the effectiveness of treatment programs.
Some researchers believe that treatment that follows certain principles can reduce recidivism.
They believe that, although individual studies may have weaknesses in research design, the sheer number of studies pointing to positive results of certain types of treatment indicate that treatment can reduce recidivism. However, because of the expense of treatment, other researchers are not fully convinced that these results are cost beneficial. In our opinion, the research is promising but not totally conclusive. Further, to conduct a definitive research study in Utah would require researchers to conduct a carefully controlled experiment spanning multiple years. This study would be very costly and may not apply to current treatment methods because the study would have to track recidivism of individuals receiving particular treatment in the past.