Abstract
This article analyzes the impact of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office Deferred Prosecution Program (DPP) on participation outcome patterns and compares recidivism rates between a sample of DPP participants (695) and a comparison group (991) of defendants found guilty through traditional adjudication from February 28, 2011 and December 5, 2012 with recidivism rates through June 6, 2014. Binary logistic and Cox proportional regressions were utilized to evaluate the program. No statistically significant difference in rearrest rates was found for a sample of DPP participants and a comparison group of defendants found guilty through traditional adjudication. However, DPP did have a statistically significant effect on rearrest rates for women charged with theft; in such cases, DPP reduced the likelihood of rearrest by roughly 76%. DPP has the potential to reduce the future collateral consequences of a criminal conviction for individuals who complete the program. Although DPP seems to have limited impact of rearrest rates overall, the program may be revised to target certain types of defendants.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the State’s Attorney’s Office, the Circuit Court of Cook County, the Department of Probation, the Public Defender’s Office, and the community stakeholders and program participants who informed this evaluation. We would also like to acknowledge and thank ICJIA, particularly Mark Powers for assisting in creating the control group presented in this evaluation.
Notes
1 By low demand program we mean no mandatory services such as therapy, drug testing unless special circumstances, and house visits. Although there are program requirements, see summary above.