Showing papers in "Crime & Delinquency in 2006"

Abstract: The history of risk assessment in criminal justice has been written on several occasions (Andrews & Bonta, 2003; Clements, 1996; Hollin, 2002). Here we assess progress since Andrews, Bonta, and Hoge’s (1990; Andrews, Zinger, et al., 1990) statement of the human service principles of risk-needresponsivity (RNR) and professional discretion. In those articles, the corrections-based terms of risk and need were transformed into principles addressing the major clinical issues of who receives treatment (higher risk cases), what intermediate targets are set (reduce criminogenic needs), and what treatment strategies are employed (match strategies to the learning styles and motivation of cases: the principles of general and specific responsivity). General responsivity asserts the general power of behavioral, social learning, and cognitive-behavioral strategies. Specific responsivity suggests matching of service with personality, motivation, and ability and with demographics such as age, gender, and ethnicity. Nonadherence is possible for stated reasons under the principle of professional discretion. Expanded sets of principles now include consideration of case strengths, setting of multiple criminogenic needs as targets, community-based, staff relationship and structuring skills, and a management focus on integrity through the selection, training, and clinical supervision of staff and organizational supports (Andrews, 2001). The review is conducted in the context of the advent of the fourth generation of offender assessment. Bonta (1996) earlier described three generations of risk assessment. The first generation (1G) consisted mainly of unstructured professional judgments of the probability of offending behavior. A

Abstract: Over the recent past there have been several meta-analyses and primary studies that support the importance of the risk principle. Oftentimes these studies, particularly the meta-analyses, are limited in their ability to assess how the actual implementation of the risk principle by correctional agencies affects effectiveness in reducing recidivism. Furthermore, primary studies are typically limited to the assessment of one or two programs, which again limits the types of analyses conducted. This study, using data from two independent studies of 97 correctional programs, investigates how adherence to the risk principle by targeting offenders who are higher risk and varying length of stay and services by level of risk affects program effectiveness in reducing recidivism. Overall, this research indicates that for residential and nonresidential programs, adhering to the risk principle has a strong relationship with a program’s ability to reduce recidivism.

Abstract: Statistically based risk assessment devices are widely used in criminal justice settings. Their promise remains largely unfulfilled, however, because assumptions and premises requisite to their development and application are routinely ignored and/or violated. This article provides a brief review of the most salient of these assumptions and premises, addressing the base rate and selection ratios, methods of combining predictor variables and the nature of criterion variables chosen, cross-validation, replicability, and generalizability. The article also discusses decision makers’ choices to add or delete items from the instruments and suggests recommendations for policy makers to consider when adopting risk assessments. Suggestions for improved practice, practical and methodological, are made.

Abstract: This article reports outcomes from a program of experimental research evaluating the risk principle in drug courts. Prior studies revealed that participants who were high risk and had (a) antisocial personality disorder or (b) a prior history of drug abuse treatment performed better in drug court when scheduled to attend biweekly judicial status hearings in court. In contrast, participants who were low risk performed equivalently regardless of the court hearings schedule. This study prospectively matches drug court clients to the optimal schedule of court hearings based on an assessment of their risk status and compares outcomes to clients randomly assigned to the standard hearings schedule. Results confirmed that participants who were high risk and matched to biweekly hearings had better during-treatment outcomes than participants assigned to status hearings as usual. These findings provide confirmation of the risk principle in drug courts and yield practical information for enhancing the efficacy and cost-efficiency of drug courts.

Abstract: Target populations have always been a thorny issue for correctional programs, primarily in response to the question “what works for whom?” In this experiment of seamless treatment for probationers in two sites, offenders were randomly assigned to the seamless model (drug treatment incorporated into probation supervision) or traditional referral model to services in the community. The experiment blocked on risk level, using a version of the Wisconsin Risk Tool, to measure the differential effects on rearrest and substance abuse. The seamless system model improved treatment participation with greater gains for the high-risk offenders in both sites. Yet, no main effects were observed on drug use or rearrest, although effect sizes illustrate that small effects can be observed for the high-risk offenders and the direction of the effect size demonstrates negative effects for moderate-risk offenders in one of the sites. Part of the failure to observe main effects may be due to instrumentation and measurement problems, namely that many of the substance abusers in the experiment had low severity substance abuse problems and the majority of the offenders were marijuana users which has a weaker crime-drug linkage. Study findings illustrate the importance of theoretically driven and dynamic risk and need measures. The focus on sound dynamic factors may assist with identifying the appropriate target populations for correctional interventions.

Abstract: The rate of youth with mental health needs is disproportionately high in juvenile justice. Wraparound planning involves families and providers in coordinating juvenile justice, mental health, and other services and supports. This study compares data from two groups of juvenile offenders with mental health problems: 106 youth in a juvenile justice wraparound program called Connections and a historical comparison group of 98 youth in traditional mental health services. Cox regression survival analyses revealed that youth in Connections were significantly less likely to recidivate at all, less likely to recidivate with a felony offense, and served less detention time.

Abstract: Risk assessments generally rely on actuarial measures of criminal history. However, these static measures do not address changes in risk as a result of intervention. To this end, this study examines the basic psychometric properties of the TCU Criminal Thinking Scales (TCU CTS), a brief (self-rating) instrument developed to assess cognitive functioning expected to be related to criminal conduct. Findings demonstrate that these scales have good psychometric properties and can serve as a short but reliable self-reported criminal thinking assessment. Their applications as part of an assessment system to determine offender progress and effectiveness are discussed.

Abstract: This study examined incarceration histories and shelter use patterns of 7,022 persons staying in public shelters in New York City. Through matching administrative shelter records with data on releases from New York State prisons and New York City jails, 23.1% of a point-prevalent shelter populationwas identified as having had an incarceration within the previous 2-year period. Persons entering shelter following a jail episode (17.0%) exhibited different shelter stay patterns than did those having exited a prison episode (7.7%), leading to the conclusion that different dynamics predominate and that different interventionsare called for in preventinghomelessness amongpersons released from jail and from prison.

Abstract: In the late 1990s, California legislators funded a statewide, community-based correctional program intended to reduce parolee recidivism. Overseen by the California Department of Corrections, the PreventingParolee Crime Program (PPCP) provided literacy training, employment services, housing assistance, and substance abuse treatment to tens of thousands of parolees. The study found that the PPCP produced modest reductions in reincarcerations and parole absconding, creating the potential for substantial long-term cost savings for California taxpayers. Because the PPCP's positive effects were strongest for parolees who completed their services, future program designers and administrators should consider including mechanisms to improve parolee retention and service utilization. This study also points out the potential benefits of incorporating rigorous evaluation plans into the design and implementation of correctional rehabilitation programs.

Abstract: Community-level factors such as disadvantage, disorder, and disorganization have been linked to a variety of antisocial and illicit activities. Although crime and deviance tend to concentrate in areas with these characteristics, not all residents of disorganized neighborhoods participate in proscribed activities. This study examines the relationship between exposure to community violence and involvement in assaultive behavior and weapon carrying among a sample of at-risk youth. Findings demonstrate that controlling for the effects of neighborhood disadvantage as well as other common correlates of delinquency (e.g., family supervision and structure, school attachment, and peer delinquency), youth who witnessed more violence in their neighborhoods were more likely to self-report assaultive behavior and weapon carrying. This research has important implications for the study of delinquency by further identifying the social costs of community violence.

Abstract: Gottfredson and Hirschi claimed, as part of their general theory of crime, that a child’s criminal propensity, what they called level of self-control, is fairly fixed by age 10. Low self-control children, they further claimed, exhibit greater proclivities for delinquency and analogous behaviors than children with high levels of self-control. They see selfcontrol levels for children at both ends of the spectrum—and their propensities for crime and analogous behaviors—as immutable over the life course. The authors explore the self-control levels, self-reported illegal behavior, and supporting attitudes exhibited by a panel of youths from in six cities at five points in time. Some of our findings substantiated Gottfredson and Hirschi’s claims (e.g., claims linking self-control, sex, and race or ethnicity); however, other findings are at odds with their theory (e.g., the unchanging nature of self-control). The authors review the implications of these findings for self-control theory.

Abstract: High rates of substance abuse and recidivism and limited in-prison and postrelease treatment access and transitional planning complicate community reintegration. Moreover, drug-related health and social problems are related to treatment outcomes. In the framework of risk-responsivity theory and structured, integrated reentry models, this article argues for new, psychometrically sound assessment tools that are multidimensional, facilitate risk management and service linkages, and combine static and dynamic factors and multiple time frames. The organizational complexity of reentry increases the urgency to develop tools to accurately identify parolee service needs. Such tools will increase knowledge about factors determining or mediating postrelease outcomes.

Abstract: Community policing agencies seek to engage communities to build working partnerships, solicit the input of neighborhood residents, and stimulate informal control of crime. A common barrier to these efforts is a lack of citizen participation. The purpose of this article is to assess the relationship between neighborhood-level variables and citizen response to neighborhood problems. The authors'predictions are guided by recent research on collective efficacy and the relationship between neighborhood conditions and citizen actions. Accordingly, the authors expect neighborhood variables will affect residents'responses to perceived problems. Results show that residential-unit variables do not have significant effects on the likelihood that residents respond to neighborhood problems they identified. Methodological limitations must be overcome before it can be concluded that collective efficacy is not predictive of citizen responses to neighborhood problems, but research must consider this important outcome vari...

Abstract: Scholars who study criminal and delinquent behavior rely on the self-report method for measuring crime and delinquency. Gang researchers also rely on the self-report method for determining gang involvement and measuring criminal and delinquent behavior of gang members. This study examines disclosure rates of recent drug use by gang members in comparison with their urinalysis outcomes. A substantial body of research indicates that members of the criminally involved population, at least those who get arrested, are less than accurate when reporting recent drug use; however, it does not appear that gang members are different in their reporting than members of the group as a whole. Disclosure rates of gang members did not differ significantly from those of non-gang members. This adds to the cumulative body of evidence that although not perfect, self-reports of illegal behavior are a valid measurement technique in gang research.

Abstract: A number of parolees are returning to the community with programming needs that may not have been addressed during their incarceration; these unmet needs may subsequently affect their successful reintegration into the community. Although there is an increasing female parole population, there has been a paucity of research concerning female parolees. The current study examines the types of needs identified at intake from a sample of 546 female parolees. The results revealed the following. First, if a parolee was employed, had stable living arrangements, and was assessed as needing and receiving some type of drug and/or alcohol program intervention, she was less likely to fail on parole. Second, many of these women were underassessed for having needs for drug and alcohol treatment as well as employment, housing, and other assistance. This underassessment may be because of an increasing emphasis on parole supervision (i.e., custody) rather than treatment in parole agencies.

Abstract: The central tenet of Gottfredson and Hirschi's self-control theory is that antisocial behavior is caused by stable between-individual differences in self-control. They also argue that after early childhood, interventions aimed at reducing antisocial behavior will be unsuccessful, as one's level of self-control is resilient to such efforts. This research tested the stability and resiliency hypotheses using a two-wave panel design in a sample of incarcerated offenders. The results indicated that self-control was not stable during a short period of time but that self-control was resilient to participation in a treatmentoriented boot-camp program.

Abstract: Research consistently demonstrates a positive correlation between hours of employment and problem behavior for adolescents. In response, the National Research Council (1998) proposed limits on youth work involvement, and its recommendation forms the basis for proposed legislation to amend federal child labor provisions. An unanticipated consequence may be to increase the amount of time that youths spend in the informal labor market because child labor laws only govern youth employment in the formal labor market. In this article, the authors attempt to address this policy implication and fill a gap in the extant literature by examining the impact of both formal and informal employment on delinquency and substance use. Because work patterns tend to be very different by gender and race or ethnicity, the authors estimate separate models for these subgroups. The authors use longitudinal data to deal with the possibility that there are unobserved differences between those that work and those that do not.

Abstract: It goes without saying that no one correctional program could be expected to work for all offenders. The elements of each intervention must be suited to the specific needs of the clientele, and the most costly and intensive services should be reserved for those individuals who present the most serious challenges to public safety and are apt to be in need of the interventions. Failing to heed these self-evident propositions is almost certain to water down clinical and public safety effects. Worse still, it may force researchers to average their outcome analyses across programs that administered a combination of clinically indicated, clinically irrelevant, and clinically contraindicated services. This virtually ensures that effect sizes will range from statistically insignificant to small. And the results frustrate practitioners. Approximately a decade and a half ago, Don Andrews, James Bonta, and their colleagues (Andrews, Bonta, & Hoge, 1990; Andrews, Zinger, et al., 1990) drew forth the essence of this argument in proposing a sophisticated and comprehensive conceptual framework for correctional programming. Under the rubric of what they termed risk-needs-responsivity (RNR) theory, they specified how an offender’s criminogenic characteristics should drive the selection and implementation of correctional services. These criminogenic characteristics relate both to risk (i.e., to those factors that predispose an individual to commit criminal conduct) and to need (i.e., to those disturbances in biopsychosocial functioning that impinge on an individual’s ability to function stably in society). Needless to say, effective implementation of the RNR model requires, at a minimum, the development and use of valid risk and needs assessment tools as well as the creation of an array of treatment programs that are capable of addressing the mix of risk and need characteristics commonly presented by offenders. Unfortunately, numerous scholars

Abstract: A limited amount of research has examined the relationship between characteristics of police organizations and policing styles. In particular, few studies have examined the link between organizational structures and police officer arrest decisions. Wilson’s (1968) pioneering case study of police organizations suggested that individual police behavior is a function of departmental goals that occur within the broader political climate of a community. Wilson suggested that agencies could be classified into three typologies: the watchman style, the legalistic style, and the service style. The present study examines the influence of organizational characteristics associated with these styles on individual officers’ arrest rates using nationally representative data from large police agencies. Findings suggest that police officer arrest decisions are partially explained by variations in police organizational structures. The implications of these findings for contemporary organizational explanations of police beh...

Abstract: Estimates are developed for the number of people incarcerated in the United States for drug law violations between 1972 and 2002, broken down by type of institution (federal prison, state prison, or jail) and, to the extent possible, by nature of drug offense (possession or use, trafficking, or other). These time series are compared to trends in drug use indicators, revealing at best weak correlations, and the absolute levels are compared to different market indicators to draw various inferences. For example, even though about 480,000 people are incarcerated for drug law violations, on average retail sellers spend less than 2 hours behind bars per sale. Still, full-time sellers might expect to spend 3 months incarcerated per year of selling, suggesting that there are roughly four active drug sellers for every one who is incarcerated.

Abstract: This study addresses the effects of motivation and problem severity on outcomes in two court-baseddrug treatment programs. Data were examined for 578 offenders served by a drug court and223served by a drug treatment court mandated through California's Substance Abuse Crime Prevention Act (SACPA). It was hypothesized that client-reported motivation would be associated with severity of drug problems and that motivation would be positively associated, and severity negatively associated, with program completion and 12-month, postdischarge recidivism. The first hypothesis was supported— motivation for treatment, measured by client-reported need for treatment and acknowledgementof problemseverity, was associatedwith severity of druguse. Program completion in drug court was predicted by client motivation and prior jail time, whereas SACPA completion was predicted by severity of drug problems and prior employment. Recidivism was associated with program completion and problem severity but not treatment motivation ...

Abstract: Super-maximum security prisons have proliferated nationally, reflecting a belief among policy makers and corrections officials that such high-cost housing is effective. Yet little is known about the precise goals of “supermax” prisons, whether these goals are achieved, what unintended effects supermaxes may have, and, more generally, whether they represent a wise investment. State correctional data systems do not readily allow for assessment of these issues. The authors of this study therefore administered surveys to state prison wardens—a population uniquely situated to provide insight about supermaxes—to address existing gaps in knowledge and to inform research and policy debates. The authors discuss the study's findings and implications.

Abstract: In the following study, the authors examine factors that explain citizen participation in crime prevention activities in Boston. Using survey data from a random sample, census data, and official crime and arrest data, the authors identified a wide range of individual- and community-based indicators that could potentially explain citizen involvement in crime prevention. Findings revealed that citizen involvement in collective crime prevention does indeed vary by the risk level of a particular neighborhood, with high-risk neighborhoods demonstrating higher rates of involvement than low- to moderate-risk neighborhoods. The authors also found that the factors that explained citizen participation varied by the risk level of the neighborhood. Overall, this research demonstrated that in high-risk neighborhoods, citizen involvement in crime prevention activities is affected by the unique blend of personal, parochial, and public social control mechanisms operating in these areas.

Abstract: The drug court model assumes that most drug offenders are addicts, and that drug use fuels other criminal activity. As a result, drug court clients must satisfy an intensive regimen of treatment and supervisory obligations. However, research suggests that roughly one third of drug court clients do not have a clinically significant substance use disorder. For these clients, standard drug court services may be ineffective or even contraindicated. Instead, these clients may be best suited for a secondary prevention approach directed at interrupting the acquisition of addictive behaviors. Unfortunately, there are no established secondary prevention packages for adults in criminal justice settings. This article presents a conceptual framework for developing and administering secondary prevention services in drug courts and proposes a platform of prevention techniques that can be tailored in a clinically relevant manner for the sizeable population of drug court clients who are low risk.

Abstract: Usinga sample of White and Native Americanhigh school students, the authors provide a test of (a) self-control theory's invariance thesis and (b) native traditionalism as an explanation of Native American substance use. Self-control significantly influenced all forms of substance use when controlling for race and in race-specific analyses. However,z tests by race revealed that self-control is a stronger predictor of marijuana and serious drug use among Native Americans. Beyond this simple comparison across groups, the authors control for native traditionalism (as a proxy for cultural variation) among the Native American respondents. In doing so, self-control remained a consistent predictor of their substance use. Although these findings largely support the invariance thesis of self-control, the racial difference related to marijuana and serious drug use poses a theoretical challenge. With regard to native traditionalism, results suggest that those most attached to their native traditions engage in greater...

Abstract: Relatively little research explaining prosecutors'charging decisions in criminal cases is available. Even less has focused on charging decisions in domestic violence cases. Past studies have also relied on restrictive definitions of domestic violence, notablycases with male offenders and female victims, and they have not considered prosecutors'decisions to pursue misdemeanor instead of felony charges—or vice versa. In response to these limitations, the authors collected data on prosecutors'charging decisions in 245 domestic violence cases filed by police officers in a Southern California city. They then examined the effects of victim, offender, and case characteristics on prosecutors' charging decisions. The authors found that (a) arrest and serious victim injuries were associated with prosecutors'charging decisions, (b) criminal charges were more likely in cases with male suspects, and (c) victim preference for prosecution was likely to result in felony rather than misdemeanor charges.

Abstract: Much has been written in recent years about advances in assessment technologies designed to aid decision making in the juvenile justice system. Adoption and implementation of this latest generation of actuarial tools, however, have lagged behind their development. Assessment in juvenile justice exemplifies the “science-practice gap” that has spurred a growing national interest in technology transfer. This article describes and assesses efforts in one jurisdiction to close the assessment technology gap through a progressive series of research-based strategies introducing field supervisors and staff to best practices concepts and tools while gauging their capacity for assimilating change, participative decision making and peer training, and integration of the technology with existing, related practices. Researchers’ use of various data-driven monitoring reports for enhancing staff accountability and implementation fidelity, addressing resistance to the use of dynamic need factors in assessment protocols, an...