Who Goes Back to Prison; Who Does Not: A Multiyear View of Reentry Program Participants

Abstract

Existing studies of reentry programs in the United States focus on the successes and failures of reentering offenders when compared to matched reentering offenders who did not receive structured reentry services. Little attention has been focused solely on the reentry participants themselves, and on how the level of program exposure may be related to recidivism outcomes. This study reports the recidivism outcomes of 357 reentry participants released to the community during a multiyear study period. All of the 357 participants studied were released for at least one full year, making it possible to examine recidivism behaviors by levels of reentry program exposure, at similar points in time. Thus, a range of descriptive and program attributes and an analysis of these attributes vis-à-vis defined recidivism measures is presented to answer the question: “Who goes back to prison?”

KEYWORDS:

• offender reentry
• offender rehabilitation
• program evaluation
• recidivism
• substance abuse

Acknowledgments

The research referenced in this article was funded by state general funds with Principal Investigator Margaret Severson. Points of view in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the state in which the research occurred.

Notes

Note. Cohen's d: ^a small (< .3), ^b small to medium (.3 − .5), ^c medium to large (.5 − .8), ^d more than large (≥ .8). Cramer's v: ^a small (< .1), ^b small to medium (.1 − .3), ^c medium to large (.3 − .5), ^d more than large (≥ .5), ^F Fisher's exact probability.

*p < .05. **p < .01.

Note. Cohen's d: ^a small (< .3), ^b small to medium (.3 − .5), ^c medium to large (.5 − .8), ^d more than large (≥ .8). Cramer's v: ^a small (< .1), ^b small to medium (.1 − .3), ^c medium to large (.3 − .5), ^d more than large (≥ .5). ^F Fisher's exact probability.

*p < .05. **p < .01.