Correctional Programs: The Implementation Problem

• NCJ Number: 119298
• Author(s): P K Lattimore; A D Witte; J R Baker
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 27 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Presented at the 1987 annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology, November 1987, Montreal.

Annotation

This paper focuses on correctional program implementation, and, specifically, a study designed to determine the effectiveness of a vocational training program.

Abstract

The experimental design randomly assigned 600 offenders to either an experimental or a control group. The experimental group participated in a vocational training program that included pretraining evaluation and counseling, priority for entry into vocational classes, pre-release employment counseling and post-release job placement. The results indicate that members of both groups attempted equal numbers of programs, experimental group members completed more vocation programs, and experimental group members successfully completed more programs than did members of the internal control group. The results also suggest that the program studied required 1.5 years to reach "steady state," a period longer than that allowed for many previous program evaluations. 5 tables, 2 figures, and 13 references.