NCJ Number
216785
Journal
Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Volume: 43 Issue: 2 Dated: 2006 Pages: 1-33
Date Published
2006
Length
33 pages
Annotation
This study examined which individual and sentencing-process factors predicted an offender's successful completion of a community service (CS) sentence, as well as whether completion of a CS sentence was related to the probability of in-program and postprogram rearrest.
Abstract
The study found that offenders who exhibited several potential indicators of "seriousness" (e.g., those with prior arrest histories and those concurrently under parole/probation supervision) were more likely to fail during or be rearrested after their participation in the CS program. This suggests that a valid screening tool should be used in screening candidates for a CS sentence. Such a tool should expose offenders' risks and needs. The study also found that among those receiving a CS sentence, program completion reduced the risk of rearrest, controlling for the underlying propensity to complete the sentence. The study involved an analysis of the case files of 810 adult offenders ordered to complete community service hours during the period January 1, 2003, through December 31, 2003. All of the offenders were served by RESTORE, Inc., a nonprofit, community-based corrections agency committed to a restorative justice philosophy in the small metropolitan area of Fargo, ND. A smaller sample of 200 offenders was randomly selected from the larger sample for a preliminary recidivism analysis. During the period under study, 560 offenders (69.1 percent) had successfully completed their CS sentence. On average, the offenders were ordered to complete 57.6 hours of CS and had been given an average of 93 days to complete their CS order. 5 tables, 3 figures, and 25 references