NCJ Number
239890
Journal
Journal of Crime and Justice Volume: 35 Issue: 2 Dated: July 2012 Pages: 221-238
Date Published
July 2012
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article explores the impact of probation supervision on outcomes.
Abstract
Probation practitioners argue that large caseloads limit their effectiveness, but prior research has not supported that assertion. In fact, with exceptions, strong studies of small caseload intensive probation supervision have produced undesirable findings: no reduction in recidivism and increased technical revocations. However, probation standards and practices have changed considerably since this earlier research, suggesting that new studies may yield different results. This study introduced reduced caseloads (approximately 54 medium- to high-risk probationers per officer) into an agency with officers fully trained in implementing evidence-based practices, a combination of supervision strategies based on known predictors of criminal recidivism. The authors evaluated the intervention's effect on recidivism and technical revocations of probation using a quasi-experimental design (difference-in-differences). The authors used survival analysis to estimate that the smaller caseload reduced the rate of recidivism by roughly 30 percent; technical violations increased by 4 percent. The authors conclude that reduced caseloads in agencies using modern supervision practices reduce recidivism. Abstract published by arrangement with Taylor and Francis.