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Effectiveness of Community-Based Correctional Programs: A Case Study

NCJ Number
198000
Journal
Prison Journal Volume: 82 Issue: 4 Dated: December 2002 Pages: 478-497
Author(s)
Nancy Marion
Date Published
December 2002
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This research conducted a case study of a community-based program in the Midwest to determine whether community corrections alternatives to incarceration were more cost-effective than prisons and jails and achieved the goal of reducing overcrowding in custodial facilities.
Abstract
The study used data from a not-for-profit, Midwestern community corrections agency that operated 22 separate programs for offenders. For the purposes of this study, information was available on the larger programs, which included a community-based correctional facility, the halfway house, work release, day reporting, and home incarceration. The recidivism reports completed by the agency included the following three measures of recidivism: rearrest, conviction, and imprisonment. Recidivism reports were computed 1 year after a program ended, then after 2 years, and then again after 5 years. Client groups were categorized according to whether or not they successfully completed the program. Those who completed program requirements without committing any other criminal acts were considered to have successfully left the program. In this case study, recidivism rates for rearrests, convictions, and imprisonments were compared with the recidivism rate for traditional correction institutions in the same State. The State Department of Corrections, however, conducts only a 2-year follow-up for released inmates and restricts the definition of recidivism to reimprisonment. Thus, the comparison was conducted only for recidivism as reimprisonment. This study provides an analysis for each of the programs considered. The recidivism rates for the two programs for which data were readily available (community-based correctional facility and halfway house) indicated that the offenders who were released after successfully completing the programs were reimprisoned at about the same rate as offenders released from correctional facilities across the State (approximately 30 percent). In the other programs -- including the work release program, day reporting, and home incarceration -- the clients who successfully completed the programs had lower rates of reimprisonment than offenders released from prisons. The study concludes that although community-based programs generally do not produce a significant reduction in recidivism compared with jails and prisons, they provide equal protection for the community at a reduced cost while mitigating overcrowding in custodial facilities, particularly jails. 7 tables and 36 references