Are Parolees Being Setup for Failure? Why Context is Key When Delivering Evidence-based Services to Parole Populations

• In Event: Parole, Parole Revocation & the Reentry Process

Abstract

This study investigates factors that impact the likelihood of parole officers gearing correctional evidence-based practices (EBPs) towards parolees prior to initiating supervision revocation proceedings. We consider three primary independent variables in our exploration of the officer’s decision-making process: 1) the temporal proximity of the decision to the implementation of evidence-based practices policies in the parole setting, 2) the actuarial risk classification of the parolee, and 3) whether the parolee had previously been front-loaded EBPs by the releasing authority as a part of the reentry process. Our findings indicate that if parolees were front-loaded services at release, it decreased their likelihood of having similar services geared towards them by their parole officer by approximately 10 percentage points (an approximate 60 percent decrease in the odds), while the temporal proximity and actuarial risk classification variables provide little explanatory power. Implications for parole policy and evaluation research are discussed.

Authors

• Michael Ostermann, Rutgers University

• Jordan Hyatt, Drexel University