FY 2011 Second Chance Act Adult Offender Reentry Demonstration Projects: Evaluability Assessment of the Hudson County (NJ) Community Reintegration Program

• NCJ Number: 243986
• Author(s): Colleen Owens; Shelli Rossman; Kelle Barrick; Monica Sheppard
• Date Published: September 2012
• Length: 36 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2012-R2-CX-0032
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Evaluation

Annotation

This study conducted an evaluability assessment (determination of whether a project is a candidate for meaningful evaluation) of the Hudson County (New Jersey) Community Reintegration Program (CRP), a FY 2011 Second Chance Act (SCA) demonstration site, whose grant-mandated goals are to increase reentry programming for returning prisoners and their families; reduce recidivism of program participants by 50 percent over 5 years, reduce parole violations, and improve reintegration outcomes.

Abstract

Based on current knowledge of the Hudson County CRP, the evaluability-assessment (EA) team believes it is a strong candidate for a process and implementation evaluation and inclusion in the recidivism outcome studies and the cost study. At this time, the EA team is not recommending the site for full impact evaluation due to a variety of issues. Other SCA demonstration sites are better positioned to support more rigorous impact evaluation using random assignment protocols; however, the EA team believes it may be possible to conduct an intensive analysis of program outcomes without a comparison group for reasons cited in this report. Given the top-level commitment to an evaluation, the EA team is confident that implementation of a future impact evaluation will occur. Hudson County CRP conducts risk/needs assessments of offenders about to be released from prison so as to individually tailor treatment and services both before and after release. Services include pre-release and post-release case management designed to increase family involvement, promote attachment to health maintenance and mental health treatment, and assist with access to benefits and services. Program components include pre-release and post-release substance abuse treatment, as well as day treatment that addresses daily living skills, transitional housing, and educational, vocational, and employment assistance. 2 exhibits, 3 references, and appended SCA logic models