Feasibility and Acceptability of an Impact of Crime Group Intervention with Jail Inmates

Abstract

The current study evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of a manualized Impact of Crime (IOC) group intervention implemented with male inmates (N = 108) at a county jail. Facilitator adherence to the intervention and participant attendance, homework completion, and feedback were assessed. On average facilitators covered 93.7% of each manual topic. Victim speaker recruitment was a challenge—43.5% of relevant sessions lacked victim speakers. Findings suggested significant participant engagement—67.3% attended at least 75% of sessions and 93.3% of homework assignments were submitted on time. Overall, participants indicated satisfaction with the intervention. Successful strategies, challenges, and potential enhancements are discussed.

Keywords:

• intervention
• offenders
• rehabilitation
• restorative justice
• reintegration

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many thanks to the members of the Human Emotions Research Lab for their assistance with this research.

FUNDING

This research was supported by Grant # RO1 DA14694 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Notes

1. In one non-U.S. study, conducted in London, qualitative interviews with staff and offender participants were used to assess the acceptability of a victim impact intervention called The Forgiveness Project (Adler & Mir, 2012). Both prison staff and offender participants were largely positive in their discussions of the program.

2. The three principles considered fundamental to restorative justice are (1) crime arises out of conflict and harms victims, communities, and offenders; (2) criminal justice processes should seek to repair harm through reconciliation; and (3) victims, offenders, their families, and communities should all be actively involved in repairing the harm and resolving conflict brought about through crime (Hudson & Galaway, 1996). The IOC workshop in the current study primarily focuses on the first two principles. The curriculum is designed to encourage offenders to recognize the impact of their crimes, and a community service project is conducted at the end of the workshop as a way to begin repairing harm done to the community. Although the participants are not directly repairing the harm their crime caused, they are taking steps toward reconciliation with the community. In regard to the third principle, although victims are involved in the intervention by speaking to the offenders during the workshop, the victims are not the ones directly affected by the crimes of the group members and they do not share in the reconciliatory process.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Grant # RO1 DA14694 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.