NCJ Number
101642
Journal
Journal of Offender Counseling, Services and Rehabilitation Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Dated: (Spring 1986) Pages: 97-105
Date Published
1986
Length
9 pages
Annotation
A rating system based on the percentage of months without incarceration is a more sensitive indicator of the success of a residential treatment or correctional program than is an indicator based on the recidivism rate alone.
Abstract
Evaluative measures such as staffing ratios and costs per client do not consider what happens to the client after release from the treatment program. Measuring only recidivism rates gives as much weight to someone reincarcerated for 3 months as to someone reincarcerated for life. Considering the total months incarcerated in comparison to the total months since leaving the program permits an array of success measures that range from 0 percent for someone who is reincarcerated immediately and never released to 100 percent for someone who is never reincarcerated. The success rate index was used to examine the results of Elk Hill Farm, a private, nonprofit residential facility in Virginia for young men 13 to 17 years old for whom neither community living nor a State institution was appropriate. The success rate for all 160 youths released since August 1976 was 81.1 percent. Older youths were more successful after leaving the program. The index can be useful for both policy and program planners in improving a facility's treatment quality. Figures, data tables, 5 references.