This article provides an empirical synthesis of the existing literature on the effectiveness of restorative justice practices using meta-analytic techniques. The data were aggregated from studies that compared restorative justice programs to traditional nonrestorative approaches to criminal behavior. Victim and offender satisfaction, restitution compliance, and recidivism were selected as appropriate outcomes to adequately measure effectiveness. Although restorative programs were found to be significantly more effective, these positive findings are tempered by an important self-selection bias inherent in restorative justice research. A possible method of addressing this problem, as well as directions for future research, are provided.

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The Effectiveness of Restorative Justice Practices: A Meta-Analysis:

Recent meta-analyses have documented considerable evidence demonstrating that correctional treatment programs are indeed effective for reducing recidivism in offender populations. The effect of client risk, an issue that has received extensive coverage in the extant literature from an assessment perspective, has been relatively ignored in these efforts. The present study marks the first exhaustive meta-analytic investigation of the risk principle and its effects on correctional treatment program effectiveness. The results reveal moderate support for its utility, although the magnitude of the findings are affected by the reporting practices used in the primary studies. Finally, the evidence supporting the risk principle is much stronger for female offenders and young offenders and within programs that are deemed appropriate according to the principles of need and responsivity. It should be noted that justice interventions that did not include elements of human service (e.g., increased sanctions) yielded negative results regardless of level of client risk.

Risk Principle of Case Classification in Correctional Treatment A Meta-Analytic Investigation

Predicting work-related stress in correctional officers: A meta-analysis.

Drawing on recent scholarship on prisoner reentry and gendered pathways to crime, this research explores how social relationships, incarceration experiences, and community context, and the intersection of these factors with race, influence the occurrence and timing of recidivism. Using a large, modern sample of women released from prison, we find that women who are drug dependent, have less education, or have more extensive criminal histories are more likely to fail on parole and to recidivate more quickly during the eight year follow‐up period. We also observe racial variation in the effect of education, drug use, and neighborhood concentrated disadvantage on recidivism. This study highlights the importance of an intra‐gender, theoretical understanding of recidivism, and has import for policy aimed at female parolees.

Women Coming Home: Long‐Term Patterns of Recidivism

This article explores the association between employment and recidivism for parolees released from Texas prisons. Along with determining whether obtaining employment on release from prison is associated with decreased odds of reincarceration, this article analyzes whether obtaining employment is associated with increased time to reincarceration. Proportional hazard models were used to examine the effect of employment on reincarceration over time. This analysis allowed a unique view of desistance from crime as a process of behavioral change with multiple stages. Results generally support this perspective, finding that although obtaining employment is not associated with a significant decrease in likelihood of reincarceration, it is associated with significantly greater time to reincarceration. Thus, among parolees who are reincarcerated, those who obtain employment spend more time crime-free in the community before returning to prison. This article argues that increased time crime-free is an indicator of p...

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Is Employment Associated With Reduced Recidivism? The Complex Relationship Between Employment and Crime

The present study examined the utility of several substance abuse factors in predicting general and violent recidivism. A quantitative meta-analytic review was used to examine five substance abuse predictor categories. Forty-five studies were selected for inclusion, producing 116 individual effect size estimates. Overall, the meta-analysis generated a weighted mean effect size of .10 between substance abuse and general recidivism. A combined alcohol and/or drug problem predictor category yielded the highest mean effect size (Mz + = .22), followed by drug abuse (Mz + = .19), parental substance abuse (Mz + = .13), and alcohol abuse (Mz + = .12). Interestingly, substance abuse convictions were not related to general recidivism (Mz + = -.02). The results not only confirm the overall predictive relationship between substance abuse and criminal recidivism but also suggest that appropriately identifying the type of substance abuse factor may enhance the predictive utility of several risk assessment inst...

S. L. Brown

Papers

The role of substance abuse factors in predicting recidivism: A Meta-analysis