Focused deterrence initiatives, including the most famous, Boston's Operation Ceasefire, have been associated with significant reductions in violence in several U.S. cities. Despite early successes, some cities have experienced long-term sustainability issues. Recent work in Cincinnati, Ohio, has focused on institutionalizing focused deterrence in…

Case management is commonly regarded as the foundation of effective service provision across a wide range of human service settings. This article considers the case management that is offered to clients of community corrections, identifying the distinctive features of case management in this particular setting, and reviewing the empirical evidence…

Evaluations of complex interventions such as sentencing guidelines provide an opportunity to understand the mechanisms by which policies and programs can impact intermediate and long-term outcomes. There is limited previous discussion of the underlying frameworks by which sentencing guidelines can impact outcomes such as crime rates. Guided by a…

Police agencies across the country are struggling to respond to significant number of persons with serious mental illness, who are landing on their doorsteps with sometimes tragic consequences. Arguably, the most widely adopted approach, the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model, is a specialized police-based program designed to improve officers'…

This study of 14 day reporting centers demonstrated that findings from analyses that take into account the clustering of clients into programs differ from those that ignore it. The multilevel analysis found that a higher likelihood of completion is associated with being older, White/non-Hispanic, having a current "other" offense, and…

This paper examines whether a maximum security institution housing inmates can benefit from a pro-social cognitive skills class. The inmates were taught Cognitive Problem Solving Skills for Offenders (J. Taymans; S. Parese) to determine if the pro-social skills class had any effect on the number of infractions they accrued. All the participants…

Presents some recent developments in the evaluation of crime prevention and control programs, including the increased use of process evaluation models. Describes the nature, methods, and advantages of the idiographic (or single subject) model as used in social work. (JAC)

Describes the San Luis Obispo County Jail Treatment program, which included crisis management, psychiatric services, substance abuse counseling, Graduate Equivalency Diploma preparation, vocation counseling, and postrelease counseling and referral. Data from 73 offenders indicated the approach was effective in lowering the immediate recidivism…

Two of America's most serious problems--crime and illiteracy--converge in our prisons. The majority of prisoners have serious educational deficits. Although prison educational programs exist, they are often ineffective because of poor program development, lack of administrative support, or small numbers of prisoners served. One innovation in…

Reviews the literature on employment of ex-offenders and proposes a model for understanding and predicting the effectiveness of ex-offender employment programs. Suggests that prisonization and self-esteem are especially important for understanding post-release adjustment. (JAC)

This report is an evaluation, using randomized experimental/control design, of a program involving negotiated contractual agreements (MAP) between prisoners and parole boards for specific parole dates contingent on performance in work, training and treatment activities. Contracts were generally for less than six months. Both feasibility and…

The purpose of this research study was to discern, analyze, describe, and disseminate information about exemplary programs and the critical variables or strategies within program design that lead to reducing recidivism, increasing post-release employment, and increasing in-program success in vocational education programs located in adult-level…

A study explored the relationship of program components and variables within successful correctional vocational education programs in adult state prisons, and the outcomes of those programs, leading to in-depth descriptions of exemplary programs in the full document on this project (see note). Program success was determined by the following data:…

Analysis of the relationship between employment and crime has been undertaken in several different disciplines. Included among these are economics, sociology, anthropology, and manpower program evaluations for criminal justice populations. Examination of economic perspectives on employment and crime reveals two competing views of their…

Although the disappointing results of earlier ex-offender programs convinced many that "nothing works so let's just keep prisoners incarcerated longer," research in the 1980s and 1990s has shown that intensive pre-release employment training and post-release employment programs and support can cut the rate of recidivism. Current initiatives…