Implementation and Short-Term Impact Evaluation of the Lake County Adult Probation Department's Women's Specialized Services Program, Final Report

• NCJ Number: 225111
• Author(s): Loretta J. Stalans Ph.D.; Magnus Seng Ph.D.; Arthur Lurigio Ph.D.
• Date Published: 2008
• Length: 153 pages
• Grant Number(s): 03-DB-BX-0017
• Sponsoring Agency: Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA); Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
• Sale Source: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study described the implementation and short-term impact evaluation of the Lake County Probation Department's women's specialized services program.

Abstract

The study examines how well the program was implemented and how much short-term impact the program has had on women participating in referrals, increasing employment status, reducing substance abuse, complying with probation conditions, and refraining from committing additional crimes. Data were collected from probation officers' event records on referrals, violation of probation petitions, communication with community-based agencies and trauma counselors, probationers' missed office visits and noncompliance with treatment, positive drug tests, number of missed mental health visits, number and nature of referrals received for 125 control group probationers and 86 trauma clients. Chapter 2 describes the evaluation design and the multiple sources of data that were collected. Chapter 3 describes the development of the program. Chapter 4 describes program operation including client assessments, referrals to the program, basic structure of the trauma counseling, clients' needs for services, referral rates to different types of agencies, participation rates in treatments and services, and how the program and/or probation has improved the lives of women offenders' children. Chapter 5 describes the nature and quality of the trauma counseling offered by contracted service providers based on interviews with therapists, review of curriculum materials, and observations of eight weeks of trauma counseling sessions. Chapter 6 describes how aware directors of community-based agencies are of the women's specialized services program, and the nature of community-based services including the number of women served, the eligibility criteria, the type of services offered, whether the services are designed to address women's unique needs, and directors' perception of how probation can assist and motivate women offenders to continue participation in needed services. Chapter 7 describes the short-term impact evaluation of the program. Tables and references