NCJ Number
141526
Journal
Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Volume: 19 Issue: 1/2 Dated: (1993) Pages: 131-144
Date Published
1993
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study compared 63 community treatment center residents with 156 house arrestees in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in terms of their characteristics and rates of success or failure both during the community-based correctional program and 1 year after program release.
Abstract
A 10-page questionnaire was administered to both groups. In-program success was determined by successful program completion, while in-program failure was indicated by dismissal from the program for any of the following reasons: commission of a new crime during the program, serious violation of a program condition, misbehavior leading to a higher security program, or escape. Success in the community was determined by the absence of any reported conviction for 1 year, while failure was indicated by a new conviction during the same period. The nonresidential program of house arrestees showed better results, with lower recidivism rates, than the residential program of community treatment centers (91.8 versus 73.8 percent). All 10 house arrestees removed from the program on revocation of program conditions later succeeded in the community by staying crime-free during the 1-year followup period. This suggested the differential impact of supervision by program staff and also the differential attitudes of prisoners to supervision. Women in both programs had a much higher rate of failure than expected, more so under the house arrest program. The house arrest program had some ingredients that might account for its success: living with one's family, having greater motivation to succeed in a new program, sharing daily responsibilities, facing the realities of the natural community, having better employment opportunities, and participating in an unsheltered though supervised environment. 16 references and 4 tables