Evidence-based assessment has received little attention despite its critical importance to the evidence-based practice movement. Given the limited resources in the public sector, it is necessary for evidence-based assessment to utilize tools with established reliability and validity metrics that are free, easily accessible, and brief. We review tools that meet these criteria for youth and adult mental health for the most prevalent mental health disorders to provide a clinical guide and reference for the selection of assessment tools for public sector settings.

A profile of the Thinking for a Change program includes an overall evidence rating, and the program goals, target population, theory and components.

Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT®) was one of the first (if not the first) cognitive-behavioral programs implemented with offenders housed in prison settings.

A meta-analysis of nine published outcome studies detailing the effects of Moral Reconation Therapy on recidivism in parolees and probationers is presented.

Results from an 18-month evaluation of the Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT) provided by the Evening Reporting Centers (ERC) of the Illinois Fourth Probation District of the Second Judicial Circuit are presented.

The present report is a 20-year follow-up on the recidivism rates of the same 1,052 MRT-treated offenders and the almost randomly formed control group of 329 controls reported in prior reports.

A systematic review using meta-analysis techniques was conducted with 14 studies selected to provide the best evidence on the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral programs for reducing re-offense recidivism of criminal offenders.

A meta-analysis of 58 experimental and quasi-experimental studies of the effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) on the recidivism of adult and juvenile offenders confirmed prior positive findings and explored a range of potential moderators to identify factors associated with variation in treatment effects.

The finding is that well-trained providers, a well-implemented course of treatment and focus on training in anger and conflict management increase the effect of the therapy.

This short article is a revision of “Preventing Future Crime with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy,” originally published in the National Institute of Justice Journal (Issue No. 265) and explains the CBT has been found to be effective with juvenile and adult offenders (low- and high-risk), sex offenders, and in a variety of correctional settings in the community and in institutions.