--Mike Connelly
A LOT of good stuff already set up for this weekend’s wild research review, but we decided to pull out as a separate and earlier post the
NCJRS abstracts from the latest issue of
Journal of Crime and Justice. That issue focuses on effective probation and parole and recent research on how to make that happen. We aren’t including them all so click the link and check out the ones we left behind. And do whatever you can to give some love to the
Journal of Crime and Justice folks for this helpful issue while you’re at it.
Random Study of Staff Training Aimed at Reducing Re-arrest (STARR): Using Core Correctional Practices in Probation Interactions
Charles R. Robinson; Christopher T. Lowenkamp; Alexander M. Holsinger; Scott VanBenschoten; Melissa Alexander; J. C. Oleson
Journal of Crime and Justice
Volume:35 Issue:2 Dated:July 2012 Pages:167 to 188
This study examined the risk–need–responsivity (RNR) model, in conjunction with core correctional practices, has offered promising results. The recent application of the risk–need–responsivity (RNR) model, in conjunction with core correctional practices, has offered promising results. In the present study, supervision officers were trained in core correctional skills and the RNR model. Supervision officers were randomly assigned to training groups and provided audio recordings of interactions with clients to assess their use of learned skills. The current study utilizes taped interactions between officers and offenders, individual-level offender data, and outcome/recidivism data to investigate the impact of the training regimen, which is the core focus of this paper. Trained probation officers demonstrated greater use of the skills taught during training and their clients had lower failure rates. These findings suggest that providing Staff Training Aimed at Reducing Re-arrest (STARR) training to community supervision officers can impact the officers’ use of important correctional skills and improve client outcomes.
Improving Probation Officers' Supervision Skills: An Evaluation of the EPICS Model
Paula Smith; Myrinda Schweitzer; Ryan M. Labrecque; Edward J. Latessa
Journal of Crime and Justice
Volume:35 Issue:2 Dated:July 2012 Pages:189 to 199
This research discusses the implementation issues in a community corrections setting and reports the results of the Effective Practices in Community Supervision (EPICS) model. Previous research suggests traditional probation and parole services perform less than optimally in reducing recidivism. In response to these findings, several attempts to integrate the principles of effective intervention and core correctional practices into community supervision have been made. Preliminary results from several jurisdictions suggest that the use of core correctional practices within the context of community supervision has been associated with meaningful reductions in offender recidivism. This research provided the impetus for the development of a new model by the University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute, entitled Effective Practices in Community Supervision (EPICS). The purpose of the EPICS model is to teach community supervision officers how to translate the principles of effective intervention into practice, and, more specifically, how to use core correctional practices in face-to-face interactions with offenders. Results indicated that officers trained in the EPICS model demonstrated more consistent use of core correctional practices. Remarkably, trained officers also became more proficient in their use of these skills over time as a result of participation in coaching sessions. These preliminary findings underscore the importance of training and coaching as an on-going process to assist agencies in gaining adherence to the principles of effective intervention and core correctional practices.
Effects of Low-Intensity Supervision for Lower-Risk Probationers: Updated Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial
Geoffrey C. Barnes; Jordan M. Hyatt; Lindsay C. Ahlman; Daniel T. L. Kent
Journal of Crime and Justice
Volume:35 Issue:2 Dated:July 2012 Pages:200 to 220
This paper explores the effects of reduced supervision intensity for probationers who were identified, using a random forest forecasting model, as presenting a low risk of committing new serious offenses. It expands on previously reported results of the Philadelphia Low Intensity Community Supervision Experiment, a randomized controlled trial performed from 2007 through 2008. The authors updated their previous 1-year recidivism results to include 18 months of follow-up data, and assess additional measures that were not available in earlier analyses, including drug-testing results, officer contact compliance, probation violations, and absconding from supervision. The updated analysis affirms previous findings, showing that reduced supervision intensity does not increase the prevalence or frequency of new offending by low-risk probationers, and does not appear to result in any additional threats to public safety. The authors conclude that low-intensity supervision, when used in concert with valid and reliable risk forecasting, offers community supervision agencies a powerful tool for managing large offender populations, allowing the agencies to focus scarce resources on higher-risk offenders and perhaps reduce administrative costs. Further research is needed to quantify the exact cost reductions, and to determine the best means of supervising offenders whose risk level makes them ineligible for low-intensity supervision.
Reduced Caseloads Improve Probation Outcomes
Sarah Kuck Jalbert ; William Rhodes
Journal of Crime and Justice
Volume:35 Issue:2 Dated:July 2012 Pages:221 to 238
This article explores the impact of probation supervision on outcomes. Probation practitioners argue that large caseloads limit their effectiveness, but prior research has not supported that assertion. In fact, with exceptions, strong studies of small caseload intensive probation supervision have produced undesirable findings: no reduction in recidivism and increased technical revocations. However, probation standards and practices have changed considerably since this earlier research, suggesting that new studies may yield different results. This study introduced reduced caseloads (approximately 54 medium- to high-risk probationers per officer) into an agency with officers fully trained in implementing evidence-based practices, a combination of supervision strategies based on known predictors of criminal recidivism. The authors evaluated the intervention's effect on recidivism and technical revocations of probation using a quasi-experimental design (difference-in-differences). The authors used survival analysis to estimate that the smaller caseload reduced the rate of recidivism by roughly 30 percent; technical violations increased by 4 percent. The authors conclude that reduced caseloads in agencies using modern supervision practices reduce recidivism.
Getting Technical: Parole Officers' Continued Use of Technical Violations Under California's Parole Reform Agenda
Danielle S. Rudes
Journal of Crime and Justice
Volume:35 Issue:2 Dated:July 2012 Pages:249 to 268
This study examined how parole officers manage technical violations in an organizational environment where technical violations are not supported by management? How do parole officers manage technical violations in an organizational environment where technical violations are not supported by management? Using ethnographic data collected during 3 years (1300 hours) of fieldwork with California parole officers (POs) from 2003 to 2006, this paper considers how POs manage technical violators after the initiation of a rehabilitation-focused reform that encouraged POs to avoid violating parolees for technical/administrative violations except in the most egregious or troublesome cases. Data analysis suggests that POs often viewed this reform negatively and responded with various resistance strategies to continue violating parolees. Resistance tactics included: (1) partnering with police; (2) piling charges, and (3) using paperwork enhancement strategies. Officers felt these strategies better met community safety goals by assuring lengthy revocation sentences or increasing the likelihood of new crime prosecution. These findings have implications for the effectiveness of reform implementation and the success of prisoner reentry initiatives.
Effects of Parole Officers' Perceptions of the Organizational Control Structure and Satisfaction with Management on Their Attitudes Toward Policy Change
Matthew D. Makarios; James McCafferty; Benjamin Steiner; Lawerence F. Travis III
Journal of Crime and Justice
Volume:35 Issue:2 Dated:July 2012 Pages:296 to 316
This study examined the impact that perceptions regarding the organizational control structure have on parole officers' attitudes toward policy change. Research on the organizational control structure in prison suggests that correctional officers' perceptions of reduced control negatively affected work-related attitudes. This study seeks to extend the literature by examining the impact that perceptions regarding the organizational control structure have on parole officers' attitudes toward policy change. The Ohio Adult Parole Authority Progressive Sanction Grid was implemented to increase uniformity when officers impose sanctions for offenders' violations of their release conditions. Using data collected via a statewide survey of parole officers concerning the implementation of a graduated sanctioning policy, this study examines the relationships between officers' perceptions of the organizational control structure, their satisfaction with upper-level management, and their attitudes toward policy change. Results indicate that perceptions of control impact satisfaction with upper management, which in turn, affects attitudes regarding the legitimacy of a reform that limited officers' discretion during the sanctioning process.