Evaluating a State-Wide Policy to Divert Offenders from Prison

• In Event: Implications of Statewide Policies for Correctional Populations

Abstract

Many states are reducing the number of offenders sent to prisons (Bonta et al., 2008). Increasingly, these offenders are being supervised by probation. Outcome data from a study of one state’s efforts to divert offenders from prison and supervise them in the community will be presented. Data from three components of the current study will be examined. First, disposition data on offenders from 11 different counties (N=11,000) will be used to determine which offenders are being diverted from prison. Second, all offenders who are diverted from prison from these 11 counties and served using earmarked prison diversion money will be matched and compared to like offenders placed in other correctional settings (N=104,634) to determine the effectiveness of the state’s efforts. Finally, intensive supervision probation will be isolated to examine the impact of this practice. Outcomes will be differentiated by examining the performance of the 11 counties on the Correctional Program Checklist – Community Supervision Agency (CPC-CSA) which measures adherence to evidence-based practices. As with any state effort, the interpretation and implementation can be varied in practice even when everyone has the same goal. The results of this study will explore the variation in implementation to achieve the goals of the effort

Authors

• Candra Reeves, University of Cincinnati

• Erin Harbinson, Council of State Governments

• Carrie Sullivan, University of Cincinnati

• Edward Latessa, University of Cincinnati