NCJ Number
184306
Date Published
1998
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This report describes the methodology and presents the findings of an evaluation of New York City's Community Service Sentencing Project (CSSP), the city's largest effort to develop an alternative to incarceration for misdemeanor offenders.
Abstract
CSSP supervises adults with histories of misdemeanor offenses who are sentenced to perform 10 or 15 days of unpaid labor in low-income neighborhoods and provides services to assist offenders through the program. The evaluation, conducted between January and June 1998, produced four main findings. First, CSSP is supervising adult repeat misdemeanants as intended. In the negotiations leading to the CSSP sentence for 146 offenders ordered to CSSP between December 5, 1997, and February 18, 1998, prosecutors initially sought a jail or prison term for all but two of them. In addition, the official criminal history of the average offender ordered to the program had increased in length over the past 3 years. Second, most offenders were supervised effectively by CSSP. The rate of program completion for all offenders ordered to the program -- 66 percent in fiscal year 1998 -- exceeded the city's requirements. Third, offenders, CSSP staff, and community representatives had favorable views of CSSP. Offenders and staff reported that the program is well-ordered and well-managed. Also, community service through CSSP has been helpful to offenders and to the community. Fourth, CSSP's 5-day participation evaluation is an early indicator of termination. Several offender, court-processing, and programmatic factors played a role in program completion. The most helpful factors were the management strategies used by CSSP to evaluate and monitor the offenders' performance at an early stage. 10 tables and appended information on 21 offenders entering CSSP after February 18, 1998