Does Treatment Quality Matter?

• Date: 01 February 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12339
• Author: Edward J. Latessa
• Published date: 01 February 2018

POLICY ESSAY

TREATMENT QUALITY AND JUVENILE

RECIDIVISM

Does Treatment Quality Matter?

Of Course it Does, and There Is Growing Evidence to

Support It

Edward J. Latessa

University of Cincinnati

Michael Baglivio, Kevin Wolff, Katherine Jackowski, Gabrielle Chapman, Mark

Greenwald, and Katherine Gomez (2018, this issue) add to the findings of a

small but growing body of research aimed at focusing on the importance of

program integrity in implementing evidence-based programming and practices (Holsinger,

1999; Latessa, Smith, Schweitzer, and Labrecque, 2013; Lowenkamp, 2004; Lowenkamp,

Flores, Holsinger, Makarios, and Latessa, 2010; Lowenkamp, Latessa, and Smith, 2006;

Lowenkamp, Makarios, Latessa, Lemke, and Smith, 2010; Lowenkamp, Pealer, Smith,

and Latessa, 2006; Makarios, Brusman-Lovins, Latessa, and Smith, 2016; Nesovic, 2003;

Ostermann and Hyatt, 2017; Quay, 1977; Schoenwald, Chapman, Sheidow, and Carter,

2007). The findings from this type of research have helped practitioners to advance the im-

plementation of evidence-based practices, yet in many ways the greatest challenge remains—

translating knowledge into practice and doing so with fidelity. Indeed, the challenge for

those administering many agencies and programs is not “what to do” but rather “how to do

it” and “how to do it well.”

During graduate school, I was employed by the Program for the Study of Crime and

Delinquency at The Ohio State University. As it was the heyday of Law Enforcement

Alliance of America (LEAA), there was a great deal of funding for criminal justice programs,

most of which required independent evaluations. Most of our work was in the area of

corrections, and many of the projects we worked on were designed to determine whether

the program was having an effect on recidivism. A typical project went something like this:

The agency, for instance, a halfway house, would get a grant that required an evaluation.

Direct correspondence to Edward J. Latessa, School of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, P.O. 210389,

Cincinnati, OH 45221-0389 (e-mail: latessej@ucmail.uc.edu).

DOI:10.1111/1745-9133.12339 C2018 American Society of Criminology 181

Criminology & Public Policy rVolume 17 rIssue 1