Trauma survivors in a prostitution court: rethinking outcome success measures

ABSTRACT

Prostitution courts are a relatively new form of a specialty court, and very few outcome evaluations are available regarding their effectiveness. What research is available consists of studies pertaining to misdemeanor pre-trial diversion prostitution court programs and relies on traditional success measures including program completion and recidivism. This study utilizes data from a felony post-adjudication prostitution court that recognizes its participants are victims – survivors of trauma – as well as defendants, or ‘victim-defendants.’ Results indicate that while a large number of participants fail to complete the program and/or recidivate, assessing other outcomes including sobriety, stable housing, and phased completion indicates substantial progress for most participants. Factors consistently associated with successful outcomes included employment and participant’s risk level. Policy considerations for measuring success in this population are provided.

KEYWORDS:

• Prostitution court
• trauma
• probation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The Texas Risk Assessment System includes seven domains, some domains are weighted more heavily than others. The Criminal History domain has six questions with a total possible score ranging from 0–8. The Education, Employment and Financial Situation domain includes six questions for a total possible score ranging from 0–6. For the Family and Social Support section there are four questions for total possible score ranging from 0–4. The Neighborhood domain only has two questions for a total possible score ranging from 0–2. The Substance Use domain includes five questions for a total possible score ranging from 0–7. The Peer Association domain has four questions for a total possible score ranging from 0–8. Finally, the Criminal Attitudes and Behavioral Patterns domain includes seven questions for a total possible score ranging from 0–12. Question responses in each section are assigned a numerical value and those with a total score of 0–7 are low risk, 8–15 low-moderate, 16–23 are scored as moderate, 24+ as high.

2. While there are no known validation studies published using the TRAS, the instrument it was based on, the ORAS was used on a diverse sample from Texas and was found to be predictive of reoffending. Thus, modifying the ORAS for Texas-specific legal factors resulted in the adopted TRAS instrument (Lovins, Latessa, May, and Lux 2018).

3. The variable Days sober was transformed using the square-root to meet normality assumptions.

4. A supplemental check was run with the outliers and found the following differences between models. Thus, outliers did influence the models and were removed.

5. Normality was assessed using the Shapiro-Wilk Test. Residuals were assessed using a Normal P-P plot. Multivariate Homogeneity of Variance using a Residual vs. Fitted Plot.

6. One participant passed away during the program and thus was excluded from the analyses.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was provided for this research.

Notes on contributors

Kelli D. Martin

Kelli D. Martin is the Research & Policy Planner for Taylor Callahan & Coleman Counties CSCD, Bexar County and Hidalgo Counties CSCDs in Texas. Dr. Martin has 26 years’ experience in the field of community corrections, 15 of those years in management including Training Academy Director, Sex Crimes Unit Supervisor, and Research Director. Some of her recent publications can be found in Criminal Justice and Behavior, American Journal of Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Policy Review, and Federal Probation.

Lan Yang

Lan Yang is a biostatistician for the Heartbeat Clinic Syncope and Arrhythmia Center in Dallas, TX.  She was a former graduate research intern, then part-time researcher, for Tarrant County Community Supervision & Corrections Department. Ms. Yang has a Master's degree in Public Health with a concentration in Biostatistics  from  the  University  of North Texas Health Science Center. 

Haley R. Zettler

Haley R. Zettler is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Texas. Her primary research interests focus on corrections, substance abuse, mental health, and recidivism. She is a former Adult Probation Officer. Recent publications can be found in Youth Violence & Juvenile Justice, International Journal of Offender Therapy & Comparative Criminology, Criminal Justice Policy Review, and Aggression & Violent Behavior.