When individuals are released from prison, they typically enter a period of post confinement community supervision. While under community supervision, their behaviors are subject to special conditions requiring them to report to supervisors and prohibiting certain behaviors such as drug and alcohol use. Many supervisees are returned to prison…

This analysis employs a Bayesian framework to estimate the impact of a Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) intervention on the recidivism of high-risk people under community supervision. The study relies on the reanalysis of experimental datal using a Bayesian logistic regression model. In doing so, new estimates of programmatic impact were…

Individuals in contact with the criminal justice system are a key population of concern to public health. Record linkage studies can be useful for studying health outcomes for this group, but the use of aliases complicates the process of linking records across databases. This study was undertaken to determine the impact of aliases on sensitivity…

Background: In recent years, several states have created mandatory prison-diversion programs for felony drug possessors. These programs have both individual-level goals of reducing recidivism rates and system-level goals of reducing prison populations. Objective: This study examines the individual level and system level impact of Kansas' Senate…

Social science research is increasingly considering place when examining social programs and policies with a spatial component. A specific research challenge involving spatial policies is how to select a sample of individuals based on their geographic locations. This article illustrates the use of geographic information systems, tax parcels, and…

A 3-year study of 505 misdemeanor offenders in Houston (Texas) was conducted to assess the feasibility of adopting a policy of sanctions alternative to prison sentences for this class of criminal. The most salient finding was the emergence of probation as a superior sanction. (TJH)

Lenient treatment of juvenile delinquents--based on beliefs concerning the relative lack of seriousness of juvenile crimes--was explored by asking prosecutors in one New Jersey county to rate the seriousness of behaviors of 468 adults and 474 juveniles charged with assault or robbery. More precise measures of seriousness are needed. (TJH)

A study of electronically monitored home detention for 224 defendants awaiting trial indicates the importance of defendant screening, organization and effective management of the monitoring, and program coordination. The pretrial program in Marion County (Indiana) illustrates the potential utility of new approaches for urban jurisdictions with…

Two studies of the cost-benefit analysis of correctional sentences are reviewed, which present conflicting results. Although such analysis has not determined a way to implement the selective incapacitation of criminals, it has identified the critical determinants of the decision to sentence criminals to prison or probation. (SLD)

The 11 programs and sites participating in the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Intensive Supervision Demonstration Project are described. The demonstration was designed to assess the effects and costs of sentencing convicted felons to community-based programs. The evaluation by the Rand Corporation and data collection methods and random…

Results from a study of 284 young men receiving vocational rehabilitation in North Carolina programs for 18 to 22 year olds are provided. Findings suggest that carefully integrated and implemented vocational training and reentry programs for youthful property offenders can reduce the rate at which such individuals are arrested after release. (SLD)

Prediction of success in a special program often guides program participant selection and treatment. If the statistical analysis used to develop such predictions is based on the special selectivity built into the program, the predictions can be misleading and the validation tests uninformative. Federal district court pretrial release data is used…

A data set (4,398 drug offenders from Florida) is used to estimate impacts of probation and imprisonment on recidivism and to explore the impact of biases related to selection and interruption of the duration of probation. Correcting for these biases leaves no evidence that probation impacts on duration of recidivism. (SLD)

In New South Wales, Australia, a cost-effectiveness evaluation was conducted of an adult drug court (ADC) program as an alternative to jail for criminal offenders addicted to illicit drugs. This article describes the program, the cost-effectiveness analysis, and the results. The results of this study reveal that, for the 23-month period of the…

Five counties (Kern, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco) that demonstrate both variations and similarities in their implementation of Proposition 36 (e.g., treatment approaches, urine testing) and patient mix have been selected to participate in a study assessing how California's Proposition 36 is affecting the drug treatment system…