Reentry Court in an Era of Mass Incarceration: Redefining “What Works”

• In Event: Working Out the Details: Reentry Court, Transitional Funds and Home Visits

Abstract

Despite growing academic and even political attention given to the negative consequences of mass incarceration for families, communities and democracy, progress in reducing mass incarceration is often thwarted by an over-reliance on traditional measures of evidence-based practice. In the areas of institutional and community corrections, evidence-based programs are depicted as those that have undergone rigorous empirical evaluation and demonstrated a reduction in recidivism. Relying on recidivism as the main measure of success means that programs that fail to demonstrate an effect on recidivism are often overlooked, underfunded or eliminated despite other positive outcomes that may help to minimize mass incarceration. An evaluation of a federal reentry court, titled the Supervision to Aid Reentry (STAR) program, provides a preliminary indication of the potential of programs that may not reduce recidivism, but do reduce intrusive criminal justice system involvement. A quasi-experimental evaluation design with the first 200 STAR participants and a matched comparison group reveals a significant effect of program participation on probation revocation, but not on new arrests. Implications for re-defining “what works” in community corrections are addressed.

Author

• Caitlin Taylor, La Salle University