NCJ Number
93927
Date Published
1982
Length
21 pages
Annotation
The Intensive Supervision Program (ISP) begun in 1978 by the New York State Division of Probation cannot necessarily be considered either a success or a failure with respect to its impact and processes, due to the inconclusiveness of an evaluation study initiated in 1980.
Abstract
The program currently operates in 28 counties and provides intensive case management for probationers with a high probability of unfavorable completion of the probation sentence. The evaluation focused on program impact, five program processes, and the strengthening of the program's risk assessment instrument. No statistically significant differences were found between ISP and pre-ISP samples when failure rate, seriousness and level of harm of failure offense, and seriousness of failure offense were examined. Only 30 percent of the matched pairs of probationers and probation officers had converging perceptions of the officer's role. Clients who used community resources were not necessarily more likely to succeed than those who did not use community resources. Clearer goals and objectives were related to greater likelihoods of failure, perhaps due in part to more difficult cases having clear objectives which were difficult to meet. Successful probation outcome was not related to the numbers and nature of personal and collateral contacts. Changes in the risk assessment instrument did not increase its predictive ability. Data tables and attachments presenting hypotheses regarding program impact and a discussion of regular probation are included. For the full report, see NCJ-93928.