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

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

Does placing an app for local resources on the phone of a parolee reduce reincarceration? The Kentucky Department of Corrections collaborated with Marquis Software to answer this question with an RCT. While there were substantial lapses in delivery with the treatment group of 350, a successful delivery to 154 treatment group members was achieved within weeks upon release from prison. These parolees were compared to all 168 randomly assigned control cases. The evidence compares repeat offending and reincarceration between the treatment as delivered (TAD) cases and control cases, while comparing baseline differences between TAD and control cases in crime prior to random assignment (measured by the Kentucky Crime Harm Index, KCHI). All cases were compared for exactly 365 days after random assignment, with days of re-incarceration subtracted from the 365 to measure days at risk for all parolees in the analysis. Those days were used to compute the KCHI weight and counts of crimes per 100 days at liberty across all parolees in each treatment group. The study demonstrates the potential benefits of phone-based parole supervision contact in reducing technical violations and re-incarceration.

Sub Unit

• Area VI. The Criminal Justice System / 49. Community Corrections

Individual Presentations

• Designing a Phone App Experiment to Reduce Re-incarceration: A Multi-Site Challenge - Lawrence William Sherman, University of Cambridge

• Delivering a multi-site RCT in linking re-entry to local resources. - Charise Hastings, Marquis Software Development, Inc.; Sara Valdebenito, University of Cambridge

• How RCTs can help reduce America's Incarceration Rates - Lawrence William Sherman, University of Cambridge