Beyond boot camp: the impact of aftercare on offender reentry

TLDR: In this article, an outcome evaluation of a residential aftercare component provided to offenders graduating from the Quehanna Motivational Boot Camp in Pennsylvania was performed. And the authors found that offenders who received the mandatory aftercare components had significantly lower recidivism rates at six months, one year, and two years post-release.

Abstract: Research Summary: This study is an outcome evaluation of a residential aftercare component provided to offenders graduating from the Quehanna Motivational Boot Camp in Quehanna, Pennsylvania. Capitalizing on a policy change that set up a natural experimental design, we use survival analysis to compare recidivism outcomes of a control group of 383 offenders, who graduated before the mandatory 90-day residential aftercare component was added, to an experimental group of 337 offenders, who graduated after the policy change. Our findings reveal that offenders who receive the mandatory aftercare component have significantly lower recidivism rates at six months, one year, and two years post-release. Policy Implications: These findings are important for policy related to both boot camp programs and offender reentry in general. First, our findings suggest that adding a residential aftercare component to a boot camp program has the potential to (1) greatly reduce failure rates and (2) increase the time to failure. Second, our findings have implications that reach beyond boot camp. As the number of incarcerated offenders returning to local communities continues to increase, offender reentry has become a national issue. Our findings are promising as they suggest that a continuum of care model designed to extend services and help offenders overcome immediate obstacles to reintegration may indeed reduce criminal recidivism.