NCJ Number
167209
Journal
Journal of Crime and Justice Volume: 19 Issue: 1 Dated: (1996) Pages: 1-14
Date Published
1996
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Offenders who graduated from a shock incarceration program in Texas and then entered probation were compared with offenders who entered the same probation program by other means to determine the impact of boot camp on probation performance.
Abstract
The research took place in Harris County (Tex.). Information came from the Justice Information Management System of Harris County. Data were collected on 307 randomly selected participants in the Super Intensive Probation Program, a community-based intermediate sanction entered by most boot camp graduates in the county. Participants were tracked until December 31, 1992. Results revealed that although a lower percentage of boot camp graduates failed, the difference was not significant. Logistic regression was used to identify variables in both groups that correlated with success or failure on intensive probation. Findings were consistent with those of studies of other boot camps and indicated that a boot camp does not appear to have a noticeably negative effect on subsequent criminal behavior, but its positive impact is not pronounced either. Boot camps also have no impact on reducing the costs of expensive periods of incarceration as a result of the short sentences many prisoners serve due to crowding. In addition, the average daily cost per offender is $44 for the Harris County jail and $45.70 in a Texas boot camp. Therefore, boot camps might only satisfy the public desire to ceremoniously punish young offenders. Tables, notes, and 25 references