19518 (2025). Dr Tracey McLellan to the Minister of Corrections

19518 (2025). Dr Tracey McLellan to the Minister of Corrections: What evaluation methods have been used since November 2023, if any, to assess the effectiveness of rehabilitation and reintegration programmes for young offenders (aged 18-25), and what have been the outcomes of these evaluations?

Hon Mark Mitchell: I am advised that since November 2023, Corrections has not evaluated any rehabilitation or reintegration programmes for young offenders (aged 18-25) specifically. I am further advised that there has been a gradually reducing number of young people in prison over the last few decades. Consequently, this has meant lower volumes of young people entering programmes, which typically only have small group sizes to maximise therapeutic benefits. I am further advised that the small youth prison population, alongside the correspondingly small number of specialised youth programmes, means that it is not possible to apply Corrections’ standard effectiveness test, the Rehabilitation Quotient (RQ), which measures the impact of programmes on reoffending (namely reconviction and reimprisonment). This is a problem that impacts statistical methods for many small-scale programmes. As a general rule, the RQ requires a sample size of 50 to measure statistical differences. I am further advised that while Corrections uses the RQ to calculate the effectiveness of rehabilitation programmes and some reintegration programmes and services on reimprisonment and reconviction rates over time, Corrections does not have a specific tool to calculate the effectiveness of reintegration programmes and services. Reintegration services include accommodation, education and training, employment, skills for life, and Oranga (health and wellbeing). I am further advised that Corrections’ Short Rehabilitation Programme (SRP) can be adapted in minimal ways to suit the learning styles and enhance engagement with the youth and emerging adults, so that it can be run for small groups of young people. However, owing to the small volume of young people, the numbers of youth who do this programme is also too small to isolate its effect using Corrections’ standard RQ method. Instead, Corrections measures the aggregate impact of the SRP for all groups. Information on how Corrections’ RQ is measured and RQ scores are published annually in Corrections’ Annual Reports, which are available on their website here: https://www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/strategic_reports/annual-reports. This is also my response to WPQ 19519 (2025).