This report is a summary of the Outcome Study conducted at Deuel Vocational Institution between October 1999 and October 2001 of Creative Conflict Resolution; which is a three-day intensive group workshop designed to facilitate a reorientation of violent offenders toward a more nonviolent (and therefore less problematic) adjustment while in prison. The CCR workshops were designed and conducted by Gretchen Newby of the Friends Outside National Organization. Sixty-four known violent offenders

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... pre-tested, participated in the CCR workshop, then post-tested by rating their levels of agreement with twenty violent opinion stems. A control group of thirty recovering alcoholics from the community provided a baseline of comparison. The resulting data were tested using the Kruskall-Wallis test, and found to contain highly significant differences. Dunn's multiple comparison procedure showed that pretest ratings differed significantly from both post-test and control group ratings (p. < 0. 0001), and the post-test and control group ratings did not differ significantly. Therefore this study concluded that the CCR workshop was effective in facilitating a significant shift toward nonviolent attitudes in these sixty-four violent offenders. THE NEED TO REDUCE VIOLENCE IN PRISON In California, with about 160,000 inmates in custody, there are over 75,000 who are violent. Add to these the men who are on parole and the number doubles. But these are abstract statements that mask the grim reality of the extent, impact, and cost of the violence these men commit. This report suggests that the violence potential of these men is a great threat to the citizens of California, and as well to peace officers both within the Department of Corrections and in communities throughout the state. The Outcome Study. The motive to conduct this study arose from the need for better answers to various practical questions pertaining to violence in prison: What might reduce the frequency of violence in prison? Is there a way to identify who is able to become nonviolent? Can we predict who probably would resist efforts to become nonviolent? Are there procedures to promote nonviolence within prisons that are valid, humane, workable, cost-effective, attractive to inmates, and socially or politically acceptable? If we fail to facilitate a nonviolent adjustment for violent inmates, the cost will continue to be staggering, WHAT ARE VIOLENT OFFENDERS LIKE? The men chosen to participate in this study were selected because they were known to be violent offenders. Fully 93 percent of the participants in this study were victims of child abuse before they were five years old, usually repeatedly. Expulsions from school for fighting were also quite common, as were commitments to Juvenile Hall facilities for other offenses as children. The descriptions of what led these men to be violent identified the most frequent cause as self-centered impulsivity, most often facilitated by alcohol and drug abuse. The goals of their violence were (1) to get what they wanted without having to buy it or earn it, or (2) to "solve a problem" with the least possible effort.