How RCTs can help reduce America's Incarceration Rates

• In Event: ’Reducing Recidivism with a Customized Resources Phone 'App': Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial’’

Abstract

There are many reasons to reduce US incarceration rates, but few tested solutions. Proposals for such strategies often confront emotionally volatile issues, such as the just dessert needed for each crime type in the abstract. But in concrete terms, the best strategies may be those that work with current sentencing to reduce technical violations. The Kentucky experiment described in this session has apparently accomplished just that: reduced re-incarceration after release on parole. If this experiment can be replicated in other states across the US, it may provide a modest but effective way of fostering rule-compliant re-entry.

Author

• Lawrence William Sherman, University of Cambridge