An Evaluation of Day Reporting Centers for Parolees: Outcomes of a Randomized Trial

• Published in: Criminology & public policy Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 119 - 143
• Main Authors: BOYLE, Douglas J, RAGUSA-SALERNO, Laura M, LANTERMAN, Jennifer L, MARCUS, Andrea Fleisch
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Columbus, OH American Society of Criminology 01.02.2013
• Subjects: Alternatives; Correctional System; Cost; Criminal Justice; Criminal sociology. Police. Delinquency. Deviance. Suicide; Imprisonment; Offenders; Parole; Population; Population Growth; Prisoners; Prisons; Prisons Overcrowding; Public safety; Reentry; Rehabilitation; Sociology; Sociology of law and criminology; Statistics; Supervision; Trials; United States Of America; Prison; Delinquent; Experiment; Supervision; Parole; Recidivism
• ISSN: 1538-6473; 1745-9133
• DOI: 10.1111/1745-9133.12010

During the period between 1982 and 2007, the number of Americans incarcerated in prisons and jails increased a staggering 274% (Pew Center on the States, 2009). The United States also witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of persons on community supervision during this time period (Pew Center on the States, 2009), largely because of the collective belief that community-based sanctions and supervision could alleviate prison overcrowding and increasing incarceration costs (Morris and Tonry, 1990; Petersilia, 1998; Wodahl, Ogle, and Heck, 2011). However, researchers have determined that the increase in the community-supervised population is correlated with a subsequent increase in revocation rates (Hughes, Wilson, and Beck, 2001; Travis and Lawrence, 2002), thus producing evidence that offenders revoked from community supervision comprise a significant portion of the incarcerated population (Wodahl et al., 2011). Recent statistics reveal that the percentage of parolees reincarcerated after release currently stands at 32% (Maruschak and Parks, 2012), and although these rates have decreased since 2008, it is apparent that community reentry continues to remain a difficult transition for offenders. As such, state criminal justice systems are faced with a difficult challenge: to obtain a decrease in the inmate population and an increase in rehabilitation efforts for community-supervised offenders while operating within fiscal limitations. Alternatives to incarceration have become a popular approach to deal with such a challenge and for good reason: They promise to reduce offender incarceration and recidivism while maintaining public safety and limiting state expenditures (Clear and Austin, 2009; King, 2009; Raphael and Stoll, 2009; Useem and Piehl, 2008). Although many types of alternatives to incarceration exist (e.g., house arrest, halfway houses, electronic monitoring, drug courts, diversion, and restorative justice), one particular alternative to incarceration that has gained notable attention over the last two decades is the day reporting center. Day reporting centers (DRCs) are facilities that offer offenders rehabilitative programming and daily supervision. Offenders assigned to DRCs generally report during daytime hours and return home after daily programming is complete. Unlike other alternatives to incarceration, DRCs provide offenders with practical reentry programming while providing state criminal justice systems the opportunity to monitor and supervise offenders as they remain living within the community. Thus, DRCs are perceived to be a cost-effective way to manage offenders who are supervised in the community. Whereas many studies exist on the utility of DRCs as an alternative to incarceration, little research has examined the use of such programming for parolees. Specifically, there is a dearth of research that has examined whether parolees who attend DRCs are less likely to reoffend than parolees who do not attend DRCs, or whether DRCs are more cost-effective than traditional parole for this population. In this article, we present the findings from an experimental evaluation and attempt to provide answers to these questions and others for a sample of offenders under parole supervision in New Jersey. Adapted from the source document.