Arts with offenders: A literature synthesis

This article applies systematic review and meta-synthesis techniques to research studies (qualitative and quantitative) with the aim of addressing the research question of: do the arts have any role to play in therapeutic goals for offenders? While arts and arts therapies are used in various offender contexts research has been variable in purpose, style and rigour. This is the first systematic attempt to compile a literature synthesis concerning the role of arts with offender populations. A systematic review and literature synthesis of both qualitative and quantitative studies was conducted, with a focus on systematic research addressing questions either of efficacy / effectiveness, or of the nature and experience of arts practice with offenders. Notwithstanding methodological shortcomings, arts and arts therapies were invariably found to be associated with improvements in arousal levels, emotional literacy, and quality of life. While both qualitative and quantitative reports tend to focus on the same broad issues identified in this literature synthesis, they communicate these findings using very different language. The authors recommend a mixed methods approach in future research, to facilitate an understanding of the effects of arts with offenders through different lenses and measure their long term effects on offender behaviour.