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Improving the Success Rate in Follow-Up Studies With Former Offenders

NCJ Number
155827
Journal
Evaluation Review Volume: 18 Issue: 5 Dated: (October 1994) Pages: 613-626
Author(s)
J Leibrich
Date Published
1994
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Studies that examine desistance from crime from the offenders' perspective are scarce. One of the biggest challenges in this type of research is getting a good success rate with the former offenders who are the prime sources of data on the subject.
Abstract
Selection by availability clearly biases the findings of such studies. There are two main aspects to getting a high success rate, i.e., finding people and approaching them in such a way that they want to participate in the research. The study group was intended to consist of 50 people who had terminated their sentences in a selected probation area and had not been reconvicted of a criminal or major traffic offense since their release from prison. Factors helpful in finding subjects include using official records and informal networks, getting advice from probation and corrections officials, conducting research over a relatively long time period, and having a good attitude toward completing the research. Factors helpful in persuading potential subjects to participate involved using either a door knock or telephone approach, meeting people on their own terms, being as persuasive as possible during the first approach, and keeping the research topic confidential from others. Using a formula that calculates the percentage of contacts that result in a completed interview with eligible, reachable respondents, the success rate for this study was figured to be 78 percent. 4 notes and 10 references

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