Did we read the same article? It doesn't seem as if you finished it. If you had, I wouldn't think you'd have labeled this email with that subject.
A single study does not a success or failure make and this was discussed in depth at the end of the article. The program can't be judged an 'absolute failure', at least not yet.
Check out these paragraphs:
"John DiIulio, an intellectually serious advocate of faith-based programs who was the first director of the Bush administration's faith-based initiatives and the founder of the Penn research center, acknowledges frankly the results weren't what a supporter of such programs would have hoped for. But he points out that a single study almost never provides a convincing yes or no answer on a program concept. "The orthodox believers point to a single positive result and say it proves faith-based programs always work. The orthodox secularists point to a single negative result and say it proves faith-based programs never work. They're both wrong."
The poor result of InnerChange doesn't mean that no faith-based prison program could work, but it does mean that this one hasn't, at least not yet. It joins a long line of what seemed like good ideas for reducing recidivism that didn't pan out when subjected to a rigorous evaluation. Maybe my own pet, literacy training, wouldn't do any better in a real random-assignment trial. But that's why you do evaluations; they tell you things you didn't want to hear. If you're honest, you listen to them."
Your stance is to be expected since your positions are rather extreme when it comes to religious issues. Unfortunately, since you sacrificed accuracy in your pursuit to prove a point your position seems no different from the Bush administration presenting this as an overwhelming success based on a deliberately flawed reading of the data.
At least that's how it looks to me.
Jon
Le Blog: http://zarq.livejournal.com
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