A particularly pressing problem in the correctional psychology domain is the failure to ask questions about what the targets of explanatory theories should be, and in light of this failure, researchers have arguably spent too much time constructing misdirected explanations. In this paper this issue is addressed. First, we briefly describe the aims and different phases of scientific research. Second, the explanatory dilemma currently facing researchers within the correctional domain is outlined: concentrating on crime related categories (offending types and criminal behavior) versus psychological and social ones that are conceptually distant from criminal behavior. Third, we explore the offence solution to this problem in more detail, concluding that it is fruitless to continue basing explanations only on categories of offences or offending behavior. Fourth, we examine the possible solution of shifting the focus to psychological and social problems evident in people who have committed crime. Fifth, we present our solution to the problem of selecting explanatory targets based on the concept of black boxes. Finally, we conclude the paper with a brief discussion of the research and practice implications of our solution.

矫正心理学领域的一个特别紧迫的问题是未能提出解释理论的目标应该是什么的问题，鉴于这种失败，研究人员可以说花费了太多时间来构建误导性的解释。本文解决了这个问题。首先，我们简要介绍科学研究的目的和不同阶段。其次，概述了惩教领域研究人员目前面临的解释困境：专注于犯罪相关类别（犯罪类型和犯罪行为）与在概念上远离犯罪行为的心理和社会类别。第三，我们更详细地探讨了这个问题的进攻解决方案，得出结论，继续仅根据犯罪类别或犯罪行为进行解释是徒劳的。第四，我们研究了将焦点转移到犯罪者身上明显的心理和社会问题的可能解决方案。第五，我们提出了基于黑盒概念选择解释性目标问题的解决方案。最后，我们通过简要讨论我们的解决方案的研究和实践意义来结束本文。