"Nothing works"? (The myth of the failure of rehabilitation

Rehabilitation has a long history. Undoubtedly, Martinson's work and the phrase "Nothing works “that emerged from his assessments of the concept of rehabilitation are important milestones in this history. The term has gained so much influence among criminologists and criminal policymakers that it may be unparalleled in the history of criminology. However, several evaluative studies have shown that the idea of "Nothing works" has been widely criticized in many ways. In this paper, we examine the methodological weaknesses of Martinson's research. Some of the rehabilitation programs that Martinson has addressed in his meta-analysis have been successful, and some of the rehabilitation programs he has described as "unsuccessful" programs have not been well funded. We then turn to the question of why, paradoxically, competitor traditions in criminology have come to a consensus of "Nothing works “and have highlighted it in an unwritten complicity and given it a mythical aspect. Finally, we focus on the political implications of this myth and its impact on the formation of the “Punitive Era” and strict policies. From the perspective of this paper, the literature on rehabilitation, despite all its failures and limitations, provides a fertile theoretical tradition that can be used to rethink and reconstruct rehabilitation. Any attempt to revive rehabilitation without this critical rethinking and theoretical reconstruction will fails.