 Community- Based Services
The school-based programs are at the core of this initiative and have as their main objective the reduction of crime and delinquency in 85 high-risk neighborhoods, by targeting school- based probation supervision and servic


le School and High School Probationers and At-Risk Youth
The School-Based Probation Supervision program is designed to provide more-effective supervision of probationers, increase the chances of school success for these youth, and pro- mote campus an


es for caseload youth.
Additionally, school-based DPOs work with school campus police and officials, as well as local law enforcement, to establish safety collaborations (a planned approach to enhanced school safety). Further, the DPOs work with the


k (%)
White (%)
Hispanic (%)
Other race or ethnicity (%) Instant offense (%)
Violent Property Drug
Gang order (%)
Probation began 2011 (%) Probation began 2012 (%)
SBHS-PROB Comparison-Group Participants Youth (weighted)
15.8a 15.8 79.0 78.8 21.1 20.


percentage of school days attended (from 63.0 percent to 93.0 per- cent) and a significant decrease in suspensions (from 22.6 percent to 8.2 percent) and in expulsions (from 3.6 percent to 0.7 percent) in the term after entering the program compared


ne probationers from FY 2010–2011 and FY 2011–2012, the computed weights yield an effective sample size of 274 comparison-group youth. As Table 2.12 shows, the two groups were approximately matched when the appropriate weights are used for the compar


tly more likely than comparison-group youth to complete probation (11.4 percent versus 2.2 percent). The two groups did not differ significantly in rates of arrest, incarceration, successful completion of restitution, or probation violations. Differe


g was not possible for differences in expulsion rates because there were too few expulsions in both the baseline and follow-up periods. FY 2011–2012 and FY 2010–2011 SBHS-AR youth showed virtually identical arrest and incarceration rates. Pro- bation


n could not be computed because the baseline for both cohorts was 0. Findings from the difference-in-differences analyses for this program were consistent with those using a simple comparison of the two cohorts.
Comparison Group and Reference Period


gram com- pared with the term immediately before entering. Expulsion rates were lower in the academic period following program entry, but there were too few to allow statistical testing. Differences in arrest rates were not statistically significant,


 cohort demonstrate outcomes that are statistically no different from those of the previous year’s cohort.
Abolish Chronic Truancy
ACT is a Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office program that targets chronic truants in selected elementary scho


g of truant students are provided.
OJJDP documents several programs that have been found to be effective in reducing truancy. Operation Save Kids, a program in 12 elementary schools and two high schools in Peoria, Arizona, was a documented success. A


Probation outcomes were not applicable because the program serves only at-risk youth. For more details, see Table E.11 in Appendix E. Cluster and gender data were not available for ACT.
After-School Enrichment and Supervision Program
County of Los An


e approach popularized by Hawkins and Catalano (1992) identifies critical risk and protective factors in various domains. Ostensibly, the more risk factors to which a child is exposed, the greater the chance of the child’s developing delin- quent beh


E. Cluster and gender data were not available for this program.
Housing-Based Day Supervision Program
The HB program provides day, evening, and weekend supervision and services for probation- ers, at-risk youth, and their families who are residents i


hinking, and problem solv- ing; (3) employ credentialed staff; (4) employ treatment decisions that are based on research; and (5) have program staff who understand the principles of effective interventions (Latessa, Cullen, and Gendreau, 2002).
The H


iting to incarcerated youth to discourage youth violence, building in its place a spirit of honest introspection, respect for others (values), and alternative ways of learning (skill-building activities). The participants’ writings are distributed to


A supplemental outcome, juvenile hall behavior violations, was measured by the number of special incident reports (SIRs) in the first 30 days of the program and in the last 30 days of the program, or during month 6 of the program, whichever came fir


Y 2011–2012
NOTE: A star indicates a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the two groups.
 56 Los Angeles County Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act: Fiscal Year 2011–2012 Report
Table 2.17
Means, Odds Ratios, and Confidence Inte


 costs for the courts, plus DA and public-defender costs.
In school-based programs, these costs might also be offset by savings resulting from increased attendance following program entry, compared with attendance prior to program entry. Our analyses


ision was estimated to cost $7.18 per day (Harris, 2012). The estimated rates of hall and camp stays have increased markedly since our previous estimate in 2004. These increases are due to DOJ mandates and multiyear employee benefit increases approve


office.4 Using the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI Inflation Cal- culator (Bureau of Labor Statistics, undated), we have converted this to 2011 dollars, resulting in an estimate of $935.23 per case disposed.5
In FY 2011–2012, the Los Angeles County P


ohen, and Wiersema, 1996). Other estimates can include nonmar- ket goods, such as environmental quality, or the effects that crime rates can have on property values (Heaton, 2010). Because we restrict our estimates to only measurable juvenile justice


 the follow-up ($22,877) than in the baseline ($12,187).
Costs for Special Needs Court
As Table 3.3 indicates, juvenile hall costs for SNC youth decreased markedly in the six months after program entry compared with the six months before (an average


ering. Appear. = appearance.
Table 3.4
Juvenile Justice Costs for Multisystemic Therapy
       Unit Area Cost ($)
Program 50.70
Supervision 7.18
Arrest 936.42
Juvenile 526.75 hall
Camp 329.61 Court 3,704.18 Total
Unit Units
Day 0.00
Day 134.70 Arrest


pant) was offset by savings in juvenile hall, court, and especially camp costs. Reduced camp costs ($11,514 in the baseline, $2,075 in the follow-up) produced considerable savings. HRHN participants also showed savings in the follow-up period, compar


 Community- Based Services Initiative
As with the other FY 2011–2012 initiatives, we compared baseline and follow-up costs for each program. Baseline and follow-up periods were based on program start dates for all programs in this initiative except I


 not enough to offset increases in program, supervi- sion, and juvenile hall costs.
7 For participants in the school-based programs for whom we did not have attendance data, we assumed that a comparison of their baseline and follow-up attendance prod


rogram. Although program costs were relatively modest compared with those for other JJCPA programs, they nonetheless made up the lion’s share ($1,124) of the program’s total cost. No program participants were in camp during either baseline or follow-


ts for these participants were very low in the baseline period ($99) because few were involved in the juvenile justice system, and follow-up costs were relatively low as well ($496), producing an overall net cost of $397 per youth.
Costs for Abolish


ogram in FY 2011–2012. Weighted averages are also shown for each initiative. It should be noted that the costs for each initiative are largely driven by the costs of the program or programs in that initiative that serve the most participants. Thus, M


ering. As one might expect, there are noticeable differences in mean costs among the three initiatives. The Enhanced Mental Health Services initiative, which serves only probationers, showed lower arrest costs but much higher camp, juvenile hall, and


uvenile hall, camp, and court costs, by contrast, are driven primarily by the behavior of youth rather than by the programs. Taken together, these findings indicate that JJCPA programs and supervision are demonstratively affecting the behavior of man


nce in rates between
 75
76 Los Angeles County Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act: Fiscal Year 2011–2012 Report
the two periods measured. HB housing-project crime rates were lower in FY 2011–2012 than in FY 2010–2011, but significance testing betw


nce period after starting the program than in the comparable period before beginning the program. School attendance, in particular, improved markedly for those programs that used attendance as a supplemental outcome measure. For these programs, schoo


h MH and IOW, the two cohorts differed significantly (p < 0.05) in baseline arrest rates. This implies that the two cohorts had different profiles with respect to arrests. For HRHN, there was no significant difference in baseline arrest rates for the


hat mea- sured school attendance, we also included a benefit (saving) of improved attendance. Although the overall total juvenile justice cost per youth may not be completely accurate because of the limitation of our estimates, putting a value on eac


on design would involve random assignment to either the program group or comparison group. Another strong design would compare program youth with those on a waiting list to get into the program. Neither of these scenarios is possible for JJCPA, which


f WI 602 (designation of a youth as a ward of the court) as an incarceration. In order to make incarceration rates of the FY 2010–2011 cohort compatible with those of the FY 2011–2012 cohort, we have calculated incarceration rates for both cohorts, e


DIX A
Community Providers of JJCPA Program Services
 Table A.1
Community Providers of Services to JJCPA Program Participants
  Program
10-20 Club
Able Family Support Treatment Center
About-Face
Action Family Counseling
Action Group
Alcoholics Anonymo


Description
Provide gang intervention and prevention services
Parenting classes, individual and family counseling
Counseling, drug testing, community services
Individual and group counseling, community services, anger management Individual and famil


ring, anger management, peer discussion groups, community services
Drug and alcohol counseling
Individual and family counseling
Individual and family counseling, community services
School-based mental health services, family preservation, family supp


rvices to individuals with developmental disabilities and their families
Parent and individual counseling, drug intervention, mental health
Comprehensive therapeutic treatment in anger management, individual and family counseling
Child and Family Cou


girls everywhere fulfill their potential and gain valuable skills to ensure their future success
Teen counseling Community-service hours Individual and family counseling
Homework assistance; arts and crafts; Smart Moves programs; sports, fitness, and


er-school programs, job training
Individual and family counseling, community services, job training, parenting classes
Substance abuse treatment
Assistance to low-income families to resolve their children’s education issues and gain access to an appr


ces Substance abuse counseling, school campus (four- to six-month program)
School-based mentoring program at John Muir High School in Pasadena Community-service hours
12-step substance abuse treatment and counseling
Drug and alcohol counseling and tr


ommunity resources and linkages, community service, family preservation services and DCFS, life skills workshops, parenting, and volunteer programs
Community-service hours, enrichment activities
Individual and family counseling, alcohol and drug prev


stance abuse services; individual, family, and group counseling
Intensive 12-week youth and family program designed to “shock” participants’ consciences and awaken them to the realities of prison life
Arts workshops, events, and a culturally focused


s
Community-service hours
DMH and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department collaboration for mothers reentering the community from jail
Employment, workforce readiness
    Table A.1—Continued Program
World Literacy Crusade
Wraparound Services
Descript


e treatment group or the comparison group. The independent variables are those on which the two groups are to be matched. Weights for the comparison groups are the predicted value of the dependent variable. Weights for treatment-group youth are defin


nd qualifier.
3. violation of probation: As with arrests, violations are a key indicator of recidivism and delinquency. However, they represent subsequent sustained petitions only and do not necessarily prevent successful completion of probation.
4.


03a 868 20.05 868 4.74 844 11.72 512 3.38 385
19.43 844
Follow-Up
Mean Sample Size
48.07a 133
   Completion of probation
Completion of restitution
Completion of community service
Probation violation
BSCC Supplemental Outcome
BSI score
118 111 46
301


gram and were agreed on by MST staff, Probation Department staff, and RAND staff. The MST team identified these cases. Mandated outcomes are measured at six months after program entry (treatment group) and at six months after MST qualification (compa


gram entry and at six months after program entry or at program exit, whichever comes first.
106 Los Angeles County Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act: Fiscal Year 2011–2012 Report
Table E.6
Outcomes for High Risk/High Need, FY 2011–2012
   BSCC-Ma


ter program entry. Strength and risk outcomes are measured at program entry and six months after program entry or at program exit, whichever comes first.
108 Los Angeles County Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act: Fiscal Year 2011–2012 Report
Table


e last complete academic period before program entry and at the first complete academic period after program entry. Strength and barrier outcomes are measured at program entry and six months after program entry or at program exit, whichever comes fir


4
Baseline
Percentage Sample Size
2.42 869 0.69 869 n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
Baseline
Mean Sample Size
0.46 869
Numbera
4 0
Numbera
0
Follow-Up
Percentage Sample Size
0.46 869 0.00 869 n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
Follow-Up
Mean Sample Size
0.00 869
           a


ts whose outcomes were reported for the previous fiscal year (FY 2010–2011). Mandated outcomes are measured at six months after juvenile hall exit. The supplemental outcome is measured in the first month of the program and at six months after program


tage
3 1.02 0 0.00 n.a.
n.a. n.a.
n.a.
Sample Size
294 294
Number
8 1
Males
Percentage Sample Size
3.05 262 0.38 262 n.a.
n.a.
n.a. n.a.
     NOTE: Gender was unknown for four youth in this program.
Board of State and Community Corrections–Mandated O


 5
Outcome %N%N%N%N%N
               Arrest 0.74 136 Incarceration 0.00 136
Completion of n.a. probation
Completion of n.a. restitution
Completion n.a. of community
service
Probation n.a. violation
3.54 113 0.88 113 n.a.
n.a. n.a.
n.a.
1.20 83 0.00 8


 and Arrest Rate, Los Angeles County,” Statistics: Juvenile Misdemeanor Arrests, 2000–2009, Table 4C, undated (b). As of February 21, 2013: http://stats.doj.ca.gov/cjsc_stats/prof09/19/4C.htm
———, “Total Law Enforcement Dispositions of Adult and Juve


8 Report, Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, TR-746-LACPD, January 2010a. As of February 21, 2013:
http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR746.html
———, Los Angeles County Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act: Fiscal Year 2008–2009 Report,


Abuse Prevention,” Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 112, No. 1, July 1992, pp. 64–105.
Heaton, Paul, Hidden in Plain Sight: What Cost-of-Crime Research Can Tell Us About Investing in Police, Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, OP-279-ISEC, 2010. As o


ch Unified School District, Adopted Budget, Fiscal Year 2011–12, June 20, 2011. As of February 21, 2013:
http://www.lbusd.k12.ca.us/Main_Offices/Business_Services/pdf/ FY12%20Adopted%20Budget%20Book.pdf
Los Angeles County Public Defender staff, telep


eral Probation, September 2006, pp. 49–55.
Turner, Susan, Terry Fain, John MacDonald, and Amber Sehgal, with Jitahadi Imara, Felicia Cotton, Davida Davies, and Apryl Harris of the Los Angeles County Probation Department, Los Angeles County Juvenile J


  CHILDREN AND FAMILIES EDUCATION AND THE ARTS ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE INFRASTRUCTURE AND
TRANSPORTATION INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS LAW AND BUSINESS NATIONAL SECURITY POPULATION AND AGING PUBLIC SAFETY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
TERRORIS


cing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
 Library of Congress


pro- vision to improve education in U.S. prisons and jails. The Bureau of Justice Assistance, with guidance from the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, competitively awarded a project to the RAND Corporation in 2010. We asked RAND to comprehe


ucation U.S. Department of Education
Preface
 The Second Chance Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-199) represented a historic piece of legisla- tion designed to improve outcomes for and provide a comprehensive response to the increasing number of individua


y, and environmental and natural resource policy.
Questions or comments about this report should be sent to the project leaders, Lois M. Davis, Ph.D. (Lois_Davis@rand.org) and Robert Bozick, Ph.D. (Robert_Bozick@rand.org). For more information about


 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CHAPTER FIVE
The Relationship Between Computer-Assisted Instruction and Academic Performance . . . . . . . Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


. .
3.4. Estimates of the Effect of Correctional Education Participation on the Odds of Recidivating, by Instructional Delivery Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.5. Inputs into the Cost


return to communities upon release. The SCA’s grant programs are funded and administered by the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) within the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). In 2010, funding was set aside, for the first time under the SCA, to conduc


ring the direct costs of correctional education with those of re-incarceration to place our recidivism findings into a broader context.
Results
Relationship Between Correctional Education Programs and Recidivism
Our meta-analytic findings provide add


in our ability to detect a statistically signif- icant difference between program participants and nonparticipants in postrelease employment. Still, our results suggest a positive association between correctional education and postrelease employment


ics. However, there was no statistically significant difference in test scores between the different methods of instruction, and given that the confidence intervals included zero for both reading and mathematics, we could not rule out the possibility


.6 percentage points to break even. In fact, as noted, our meta- analytic findings show that participation in correctional education programs is associated with a 13 percentage-point reduction in the risk of reincarceration three years after release


inform such policy questions. Also, researchers and program evaluators need to strive to implement rigorous research designs to examine questions related to potential bias and program dosage and to measure both proximal and distal outcomes. Funding g


r study would have not been possible. Staff from the RAND library worked tirelessly to locate and procure all documents needed for our study: Tomiko Envela, Brooke Hyatt, and Sachi Yagyu. A team of doctoral students in the Pardee RAND Graduate School


This important piece of legislation was designed to improve outcomes for individuals who are incarcerated, most of whom will ultimately return to communities upon release. The Second Chance Act’s grant programs are funded and administered by the Off


rcerated individuals’ reentry back into society and who must carefully consider how they will allocate resources in a fiscally constrained environment. Our findings will inform them about whether there is an association between correctional education


ay for them to complete basic secondary educa- tion (Harlow, 2003). In 2004, 32 percent of state prisoners had earned a GED compared with 5 percent of the general population, whereas only 16.5 percent of state prisoners had a high school diploma comp


ease employment (Pager, 2003). Holzer, Raphael, and Stoll (2003) conducted a series of surveys of employers in four major U.S. cities and found that employers were much more averse to hiring ex-offenders than in hiring any other disadvantaged group.


ondary, and vocational training programs all showed a modest decline (Crayton and Neusteter, 2008). In 2004, 52 percent of state prison inmates reported having participated in a correctional education program since admission to a correc- tional facil


w, there have been three major published meta-analyses that meet these criteria: Wilson, Gallagher, and MacKenzie (2000); MacKenzie (2006); and Aos, Miller, and Drake (2006).3 These studies differ in their parameters, methods, and conclusions. We rev


tinson, and Wilks study, which is important to acknowledge because of its seminal role in the field, we discuss only meta-analyses of adult correctional education programs, because their methods, findings, and conclusions are most relevant for provid


oadly covered the time since the Lipton study was released.
The Wilson, Gallagher, and MacKenzie study attempted to improve on two limitations of Lipton’s work: (1) The Lipton study did not address the magnitude of differences in out- comes between t


similar treatment and comparison groups and with limited and/or no controls for differences; and Level 1 indicates a study with no separate com- parison group. Wilson and colleagues included only studies that received at least a Level 2 rating and th


yment.
Aos, Miller, and Drake (2006)
Also in 2006, Steve Aos, Marna Miller, and Elizabeth Drake of the Washington State Institute for Public Policy conducted a meta-analysis of 571 offender rehabilitation programs for adults and for juveniles, rangin


examine whether participating in a correctional education program is associated with an increase in labor force participation and whether participating in a correctional education program with a computer-assisted instruc- tional component is associa


r each study’s Maryland SMS rating in their meta-analysis, and the MacKenzie and Aos analyses reviewed only studies that earned at least a Level 3 rating on the Maryland SMS. In our analysis, we pay special attention to those studies receiving a high


ompletion, behavior while incarcerated, and progress on individual plans and goals. We were limited in our ability to examine these more proximal outcomes because of the limited number of studies examining these indicators.
The correctional education


divism and the results of a supplementary cost analysis. Chapter Four presents the meta-analytic results for exploring the relationship between correctional education and employment. In Chapter Five, we present the meta-analytic results for computer-


tion described in the previous chapter (Wilson, Gallagher, and MacKenzie, 2000; MacKenzie, 2006; and Aos, Miller, and Drake, 2006), we evaluated the strength of the causal inferences warranted by each study and used these evidence ratings to test the


 267)
Duplicate documents (n = 22)
Not primary empirical research on correctional education (n = 845)
 Documents procured for full text review (n = 229)
Recidivism outcomes (n = 50)
Employment outcomes (n = 18)
Test score outcomes (n = 4)
  171 studi


identified, 845 were not primary empirical studies of correctional education and 267 were primary empirical studies of correctional education. Of the 267 primary empirical studies, we were unable to locate 16 documents, and an additional 22 documents


ha- bilitation, and anger management programs—were also excluded.
The study needed to measure the effectiveness of the program using an eligible outcome measure, which for our meta-analysis include recidivism, employment, and achievement test scores.


locatable primary empirical studies of correctional education and their status with respect to the three eligibility criteria are reported in Appendix E. Those 58 studies deemed eligible for meta-analysis were then subjected to a formal scientific r


he main worksheets of the two independent reviews were merged into a single, reconciled review. A project team member then examined each review, referring back to the material in the original document to reconcile items on which the two independent r


ven by the types of individuals who elect to participate in the pro- gram rather than by the causal effect of the program itself. This problem is typically referred to as selection bias. To minimize concerns about selection bias, some researchers adv


nd matching treated to comparison cases based on these fitted probabilities, or propensity scores (McCaffrey, Ridgeway, and Morral, 2004; Rosenbaum and Rubin, 1983; Rubin, 1997). Matching or weighting on observed characteristics helps ensure that the


and comparison groups that may not be well controlled for; and Level 1 is a study with no separate comparison group that does not receive the treatment. As noted in Chapter One, the Wilson, Gallagher, and MacKenzie (2000) meta-analysis was restricted


the groups are small. For this reason and because it improves the precision of the treatment effect estimate, research- ers often adjust for any observed baseline differences even in the case of random assignment.
5 The WWC rating scheme maintains ne


on is simply the total share of baseline participants lost to the study; differential attrition is the percentage- point difference in the attrition rates of the treatment and comparison groups. Because the concerns about attrition pertain to disrupt


s, baseline educational level, and time to data collection
Treatment and comparison groups are matched on 1–2 variables other than gender, and/or there are statistical controls for at least some baseline differences between groups other than gender


ecidivism outcomes and that are relevant to an educational intervention: namely, age, prior offenses, and baseline educational level. (This also requires that standard deviations of the base- line characteristics be reported in the studies.) Moreover


rison group con- sisting of inmates who did not receive the treatment.8
Although we classify all studies included in our meta-analysis on both the WWC rating scheme and the Maryland SMS, we organize most of our analyses around the Maryland SMS becaus


the WWC rating scheme.9 The majority of studies are of recidivism and employment and the majority of effect sizes come from Level 2 and Level 3 studies on the Maryland SMS and Do Not Meet Standards according to the WWC rating scheme—suggesting that,


 subpopulations.
Random-effects models are an appropriate technique for meta-analysis when there is sub- stantial heterogeneity in effect size estimates across the different subpopulations, as is the case in our review of correctional education progr


reater chance than small studies of obtaining a statistically significant result, if the popula- tion effect size is equal in those studies. If there is no publication bias, the average effect size estimate of the smaller studies in our pool of eligi


ach of these dimensions below in turn.
• Definition of recidivism. Recidivism is defined a number of ways, including reoffending, rearrest, reconviction, reincarceration, technical parole violation, and successful comple- tion of parole. In our pool


ng treatment group members divided by the odds of recidivating among comparison group members. Odds ratios greater than 1 indicate that the treatment group had a higher rate of recidivism, and odds ratios less than 1 indicate that the comparison grou


tional Education and Recidivism
The Overall Relationship Between Correctional Education and Recidivism
To assess the relationship between correctional education and recidivism, we first graphed the odds ratios for each of the 71 effect size estimates


that across 32 years of empirical studies on the effects of correctional education with analyses ranging in methodological quality and rigor, on average, the odds of recidivating among inmates receiving correctional education are 64 percent of the od


of the odds of recidivating among comparison group members.
Although Level 5 on the Maryland SMS reflects the most stringent research design, the estimate is less informative, because it is based on only one program and, hence, is restricted in its b


in each group are equally effective. For example, it is possible that the estimates for the lower-level studies are inflated by selection bias and that the estimates for the higher-level studies generalize only to particular types of higher-quality p


 1 percent of inmates recidivated, and education programs prevented all recidivism, we would need to treat 100 inmates to expect to stop one inmate from recidivating. At the other extreme, if the recidivism
 Recidivism Base Rate Source
P. A. Langan a


es, resulting in a positive average effect across studies, it is important to note that the esti- mates are heterogeneous. That is, some are more positive than others, and a few are null or
Table 3.2
Risk Difference and Number Needed to Treat Based o


ocational program in which participants were exposed only to an occupationally focused curriculum with complementary job training
Table 3.3
Estimates of the Effect of Correctional Education Participation on the Odds of Recidivating, by Program Type
*


ional education may be an effective way to prevent recidivism for prisoners across the spectrum of ability and academic preparedness.
It is worth noting that the U.S. Department of Justice (Harlow, 2003) reports that approximately 68 percent of inmat


2 17 7 13
  *p < 0.05.
NOTE: n is the number of studies and k is the number of effect size estimates.
mental needs). Although we do not find a statistically significant effect for programs that use certified teachers, this is based on a single study.


using information from The Three States Study, which assessed the relationship between correctional programs and recidivism in Maryland, Minnesota, and Ohio for approximately 3,170 inmates (Steurer, Smith, and Tracy, 2003). We also used data from th


tes) or $0.97 million (using upper-bound estimates). Thus, the costs of providing education to this group of 100 inmates would range from $140,000 to $174,000. This translates as a per inmate cost ranging from $1,400 to $1,744, suggesting that provid


, we assumed that the effect of correctional education programs after three years is equal to zero. However, these programs may have a “protective effect,” diminishing the odds of reincarceration for some years after release.
For ease of calculation,


hat is, the median number of crimes committed that were not caught or prosecuted.
 40 Evaluating the Effectiveness of Correctional Education
(2006)—all of which document that correctional education participants have lower rates of recidivism than non


 Relationship Between Correctional Education and Employment
Introduction
This chapter presents the results from our meta-analysis where employment is the outcome. We first describe how we defined and measured employment across the 18 eligible studies


sible. As such, our employment measure comprises of a wide range of slightly different measures and thus should not be interpreted as any of the individual measures that make it up. Details on how each of the 18 studies defined and operationalized em


.715 / (1 – 0.715) = 2.51; in other words, the odds of a treatment group member obtaining employment are 2.51 to 1. The odds for the comparison group are 0.666 / (1 – 0.666) = 1.99; in other words, the odds of a comparison group member obtaining empl


ostrelease among inmates receiving correctional education are 13 percent higher
44 Evaluating the Effectiveness of Correctional Education
than the odds of obtaining employment postrelease among inmates not receiving correctional education.
As with ou


na 1.48* 1.04 1.13*
95% Confidence Interval
na 1.28 to 1.72 0.99 to 1.09 1.07 to 1.20
n k
na na 1 1 10 12 18 22
  *p < 0.05.
NOTE: n is the number of studies, k is the number of effect size estimates, and na is not applicable.
 2
The only study with


tional education programs should be more adept than traditional academic edu- cation programs at imparting labor market skills, awarding industry-recognized credentials, and connecting inmates with prospective employers. Therefore, we examine whether


ent (Pager, 2003), it is possible the reliance on administrative records may understate employment gains made by correctional education participants. These limitations were over- come in studies that relied on surveys to parole officers (n = 5) or su


te this limitation, our findings align with those produced in the meta-analysis by Wilson and col- leagues (2000), which also found improved odds of employment among correctional education participants.
CHAPTER FIVE
The Relationship Between Computer-


teacher and covering similar content areas; in the Diem and Fairweather (1980)
 49
50 Evaluating the Effectiveness of Correctional Education
study, the traditional classroom instruction was said to include “lecture, rote recitation, and some team tea


mathematics and reading. These are policy-relevant measures, since they are building-block skills for other content areas, and they are the two subjects that states are required to measure annually in public schools under the federal No Child Left Be


however, all of the test scores are reported in grade equivalents or in forms that can be easily converted to grade equivalents, so we use these as our common metric, thereby avoiding the need to use standard deviation units for different tests (Bag


ove the sixth-grade level. In the studies that include both reading and mathematics estimates, there is complete overlap between the samples of reading and mathematics test-takers, meaning that the estimates for each content area are not independent


d beyond the scales of the figures.
 Figure 5.1
Reading Effect Estimates
First Author (Year)
Batchelder (2000a)
McKane (1996a)
McKane (1996b)
McKane (1996c)
Diem (1980a)
Meyer (1983a)
Pooled Effect (Random Effects Model)
Difference
[95% Confidence In


ges from –0.13 to 0.79 grade levels. As is true for reading, the fact that zero falls within the confidence interval means that the result is not statistically significant at the 5 percent level. We therefore fail to reject the null hypothesis that c


05.
Content Area
Reading
Reading—low baseline
Reading—medium baseline Reading—high baseline
Reading PLATO Reading PLATO Mathematics AIMS Mathematics PLATO Mathematics PLATO
Effect 95% Confidence Estimate Interval
1 –0.82 to 2.82
1.18 –0.81 to 3.17 –0


on, our ability to generalize about any given intervention is quite limited.
Summary
Our meta-analyses of six reading effect estimates and three mathematics effect estimates from four studies suggest that the effect of computer-assisted instruction o


llagher, and MacKenzie (2000), Aos, Miller, and Drake (2006), and MacKenzie (2006) and provides further support to the assertion that correctional education participants have lower rates of recidivism than nonparticipants.
Given the high percentage o


cipated in vocational training. In comparison, individuals who participated in academic programs (combining ABE, high school/GED, and postsecondary education programs) had only 8 percent higher odds of obtaining postrelease employment than individual


 The current positive (though not statistically significant) result, the potential cost-effectiveness of computer-assisted technology, and the fact that the technology is getting better suggest that its use in this context could be promising.
State p


ns 59
 60 Evaluating the Effectiveness of Correctional Education
in prison produced some of the largest net economic benefits for adult programs (Aos, Miller, and Drake, 2006).
Last, in considering the above findings, it is important to keep in mind


bled them to begin modestly rebuilding programs (personal communication, Correctional Education Association [CEA] Leadership Forum, 2012). That said, a reduced funding environment will likely be true for correctional education programs for the near f


al education participants may be more motivated, have a stronger internal locus of control, be more proactive about planning for their postrelease futures, etc.—all of which could affect why participants do better, independent of the effect of the pr


g an RD approach, assigning inmates to the treatment group would be based on a strict cut-point from a continuous measure that is judiciously applied to every inmate. For example, scores on the TABE may be used to select inmates to participate in a c


much larger number of variables than one can typically achieve with a manual matching procedure (Rosenbaum and Rubin, 1983).
In addition, identifying the appropriate comparison groups is important (Gaes, 2008). Many of the studies reviewed in our met


ectional education partici- pants and nonparticipants. This crude categorization undoubtedly masked variation in expo- sure to the program among participants. For example, some inmates may have been enrolled for a year; others may have been enrolled


ch as changes in moti- vation, literacy gains, development of concrete skills, or academic progress versus academic achievement.
The overwhelming number of studies we reviewed used recidivism as the major indicator, which is understandable given its


ctional education. As noted above, the 2008 recession affected correctional education programs leading to major changes in the number of programs offered, the sizes of classes, the modes of delivery, and the number of inmates who participate in these


lusion in our analysis, we conducted a search for the phrases “correctional education” and “prisoner education.” Additionally, we conducted a search using every potential combination of the following:
1. Academic Term AND Correctional Term
2. Vocatio


vros, Adult Offender Education Programs, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, Office of Development, Testing, and Dissemination, 1981.
G. G. Gaes, “The Impact of Prison Education Programs on Post Release Outcom


 of Correctional Education, Vol. 53, No.1, 2002, pp. 13–19.
Document Identification Parameters and Sources 69
70 Evaluating the Effectiveness of Correctional Education
J. S. Vacca, “Educated Prisoners Are Less Likely to Return to Prison,” Journal of


ic, which represents the percentage of variation across studies that is due to heterogeneity, rather than random varia- tion. In this meta-analysis, the value of I2 is 92 percent, indicating considerable amounts of heterogeneity.
The funnel plot, sho


cidivism
Table C.1.
Leave-One-Out Analysis for Studies of Recidivism
1.00 2.72
Upper 95% Confidence Interval
0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.70 0.70 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.71 0.69 0.70 0.69
 First Author (Year)
Adams (1994a) Adams (1994b) Adams (1994c) Allen (2


f heterogene- ity is reflected in the I2 statistic, which is 90 percent, only slightly lower than for recidivism, again indicating that there is a great deal of heterogeneity between the studies. The funnel plot (Figure C.2) shows that there is a pos


ly significant, regardless of whether the regression test (p = 0.196) or rank test (p = 0.180) was used.
The leave-one-out analysis is presented in Table C.3. It shows that the pooled estimate across math and reading, which is 0.15 grade level equiva


rectional Education and Recidivism: A Meta-Analysis of Research Conducted 1990–1999,” Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2003.
Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS), Technical Manual, San Diego, Calif.: 1996.


ce Statistics, NCJ 239972, November 2012.
Gordon, H. R. D. and B. Weldon, “The Impact of Career and Technical Education Programs on Adult Offenders: Learning Behind Bars,” Journal of Correctional Education, Vol. 54, No. 4, 2003, pp. 200–209.
Greenber


vism of Prisoners Released in 1994, NCJ 193427, 2002.
Langenbach, M., et al., “Televised Instruction in Oklahoma Prisons: A Study of Recidivism and Disciplinary Actions,” Journal of Correctional Education, Vol. 41, No. 2, June 1990, pp. 87–94.
Lattim


ucation, 2002.
McKane, P. F., and B. A. Greene, “The Use of Theory-Based Computer-Assisted Instruction in Correctional Centers to Enhance the Reading Skills of Reading-Disadvantaged Adults,” Journal of Educational Computing Research, Vol. 15, No. 4,


nd David F. Weiman, eds., Barriers to Reentry? The Labor Market for Released Prisoners in Post-Industrial America, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2007, pp. 257–303.
Saylor, W. G., and G. G. Gaes. “Prep: Training Inmates through Industrial Work Pa


ation as Prison Reform: A Meta-Analysis,” unpublished dissertation, Baton Route, La.: Louisiana State University, 2000.
Wertz, J., Cuts in Inmate Education May Cost Oklahoma Taxpayers Later, StateImpact Oklahoma, June 27, 2012.
Western, B., J. R. Kli


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rmation on reprint and linking permissions, please see the RAND permissions page (http://www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.html).
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ss community to solve complex policing problems.
This evaluation was commissioned by the Communities Foundation of Texas to examine the four-year history of the Institute and make recommendations to enhance its effectiveness and sustainability. Using


 police services (Kim and Mauborgne, 2003; Bratton and Knobler, 1998).
The explosion in technology and communication has made it essential that police managers keep current with new developments and that organizations have the flexibility to change a


otional process. It was also intended to partner the DPD with local academics, the business community, and national experts in developing solutions to complex policing problems (e.g., patrol allocation, hot-spot policing, intelligence-led policing) a


ms
The Institute planned to bring a variety of resources to bear on solving complex problems for the Dallas Police Department. Senior DPD staff taking courses through the Institute would be assigned class projects that analyze and propose solutions t


ed an interrupted class design (six one-week sessions spaced over six months), course participants were not away from their assignments for extended periods of time as is normally the case with staff development courses for mid- and upper-level polic


e ranks?
• Have the participants in CPI courses benefitted from the instruction? Has the experience affected their career goals or their interest in continuing a career at DPD?
• Has the proportion of officers with degrees in the various ranks increa


d expenses in order to sustain itself.
The remainder of this report is organized into five sections. Section 2 describes the staff development efforts of the Institute, including a formal evaluation of one of the Institute’s leadership courses and tr


CPI to create new courses and has used CPI to coordinate the department’s strategic planning process and to help expand the department’s use of social media. (These will be discussed below.)
Lieutenants’ Course
The 2011 lieutenants’ course had 16 DPD


students submit for grading a written document outlining their proposed solution to the problem.
Part of the original vision for CPI was to have lieutenants solve actual problems from their current work environment. Although this idea was scrapped in


 for non- commissioned staff included a case study designed to reinforce the lessons learned in the class lectures and encouraged frank discussion between students about how classroom principles
8
 applied to their jobs at DPD. As in the sergeants’ c


• novel uses of video, including vetting of commercial burglar alarms prior to responding and capturing all police- citizen interactions
• working effectively with the media and learning to work with social media to get ahead of rapidly breaking news


nclude “Creates environment of respect in unit” and “Models positive values.”
10
• Managing relationships with the larger organization
Examples include “Suggests ways to improve departmental policies and procedures” and “Has good working relationship


web survey was the initial assessment of lieutenants taking the course: That administration was conducted in person by RAND staff in the course setting.
Table 2.1 lays out the various groups who participated in the survey, the timing of the assessmen


   Alpha
   Mean
   Std. Deviation
 Mentoring Inspirational leadership
Promoting external relationships Problem solving
Managing personnel
Business acumen
      Promoting a climate of integrity and professionalism
   0.92
  4.10
  0.89
  Managing rel


owever, the responses of subordinates showed the opposite trend: Subordinates tended to rate the abilities of their lieutenants less favorably after the course had been completed relative to before.
Based on this analysis, we decided to conduct indiv


 Comparisons Between Post-Course Experimental Cases and Control Cases
        Experimental Pre-Course Assessment
   Experimental Post-Course Assessment
     Control Group Assessment
   Increase: Experimental Post- Course vs. Experimental Pre- Course


e CFT by RAND was to track the careers of a cohort of ten DPD officers. We decided that participants in the first CPI lieutenants’ course would be an ideal group for this purpose. The group consisted of relatively young officers, only two of whom had


positive experience expressed by the lieutenants, reservations were expressed by three respondents about applying principles from the course on the job. These centered around a perception that the principles of communicating openly and seeking input


fort. In effect, CPI’s executive director has been left to coordinate the work of two UT-Dallas PhD students who are supported on fellowships by the Institute, as well as research efforts of regular CPI junior staff. The failure to fill the research


umber of followers from 7,000 to 12,000. In addition, DPD is now connecting with Dallas residents through a series of Next Door websites through which communities share information and events
• Assessing officer wait times (at varying times of day an


allas?
A chief interest of CFT in funding CPI was to enhance the public safety of Dallas citizens. One of the ideas embedded in the proposal to CFT was to assign participants in the lieutenants’ class the task of developing and testing solutions to s


studies will then be accessible by investigators and/or become part of investigator training
• An incident command system will promote communication across bureaus, removing a major obstacle to investigation efforts
• Require cover sheets from availa


riority each subgoal would receive and to make up a timetable for its achievement.
The four working groups, constituting the entire DPD command staff, have come together twice annually for two-day sessions to describe their goals, priorities, and tim


rform well in new assignments—especially excelling in problem-solving because of CPI training. According to the chief, “CPI has made DPD a learning organization” and has helped prepare the command staff for the DPD’s current strategic planning proces


ted and develops a criminal justice major.
A new Executive Master of Science in Justice Administration and Leadership at UT-Dallas has recruited 18 DPD officers into the program, and provides credits toward the degree for CPI courses (6 hours for the


es not apply to civil service positions, e.g., sergeants being promoted to lieutenant). Moreover, the new DPD strategic plan includes a goal of partnering with local universities to create advanced degree programs for DPD officers.
We made a formal c


g educational activities conducted for outside agencies:
• Conducted leadership training session and strategic planning workshop for Irving Police Department
• Developed performance measures for Tarrant County 911 district 28
• Partnered with the Ins


te. We reasoned that, since these were all individuals who knew CPI well, they would be the most likely to be inclined to send their own staffs there for training. We asked them if they had sent officers to CPI, if
29
they had used other staff develo


ACP) to partner with that agency on U.S. Department of State grants and on providing a local site for IACP to conduct regional training classes, and IACP had agreed to partner with CPI. Unfortunately, according to the current CPI Director Smith, thes


ns to the Foundation. We begin with a look at four other police leadership training programs, each using a different business model. From these four programs, we abstract lessons that may be useful to CPI. This is followed by a formal analysis of CPI


ts, business content (no criminal justice courses)
• Classes every other Friday and Saturday, 8 hours/day
• Modest revenues from professional development noncredit
courses
• Developing on-line master’s program
      Business model
     • Program run


pproximately $25,000 from professional development courses.
Southern Policing Institute
The Southern Police Institute (SPI) was created in 1949 through the combined efforts of the University of Louisville and the Louisville Department of Public Safet


IP) grew out of a 1980 National Institute of Justice executive meeting on policing. Within a year, PERF, in partnership with the Kennedy School of Government, was awarded a Ford Foundation grant to develop and deliver a training session that would ev


duate credits that can be applied toward degrees at NSU or elsewhere. Students attend a four-hour class once per week for 17 weeks and interact with professors online to complete assignments and discussions—a hybrid program with both formal instructi


ire and emergency response staff; other southern Florida law enforcement agencies
• Tuition reimbursed for Broward County participants
  Lessons Learned from Other Programs
(1) Develop a Good Regional Reputation
Perhaps the single most frequently giv


ers to act as guest faculty in leadership program and give public presentations publicized to regional departments; (b) publish and distribute an electronic newsletter on current policing topics; (c) host regional conferences on topics of interest to


eral arts and business—not criminal justice—courses.
 Take-away for CPI:
• Expand core leadership training to other public safety organizations in Dallas and in the region.
 40
(4) Keep Costs Low
SMIP has a 20-percent FTE director and hires Harvard p


ursement program. The Hopkins model is different: The program acts as a cost center at the university.
41
That is, tuition (again reduced from the normal Hopkins rate) goes directly to the program, which pays a “tax” to the university for office spac


ability absent any changes in current activities, we begin by analyzing current operating expenses. We forecast endowment income through 2017, including the infusion of capital beginning at the end of 2013. We then analyze any additional revenue sour


 2011 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments. As of August 20, 2013:
http://www.nacubo.org/Research/NACUBO- Commonfund_Study_of_Endowments/Public_NCSE_Tables.html
11 Inflation estimates based on PCE index used for federal budgeting analysis (Table 2-1


too high to be sustained absent new revenue sources. Even with new revenue sources, the existing spending is high and fixed—that is, it does not change with revenue streams or enrollment, making it particularly difficult to sustain. We propose reduct


nd research grants.
Estimating Revenue Requirements. To determine revenue needs, we estimate the alternative revenue required without any additional cost reductions. Current expenses are around $700,000–$800,000 per year, which we propose lowering to


e is able to secure.
We propose an initial target of $20,000 in their first two years, with the target of reaching $250,000 and revenue neutrality by 2017. We estimate an X + Y percent*(Grant) model for salary of the research director, with an initia


Institute was one of identifying the best and brightest officers early in their careers and allowing those with ambition to volunteer for CPI courses to sharpen their skills and accelerate career advancement. Under the current chief, the range of cou


nt agencies. These forums, where topical concerns of chiefs are discussed and debated, could also be filmed and edited and distributed or used in future courses. Another idea that has been put forward to promote CPI as a regional resource is to creat


erienced and credentialed researcher. The UT-Dallas connection is needed, not just to create a research director line, but also to lend its reputation and credentials to grant applications—a reputation and credentials that the fledgling UNT-Dallas wi


letely voluntary and will not affect your standing with the department. The information you provide will be held confidential by the RAND Corporation; it will not be divulged to anyone in the Dallas Police Department. Your responses will be merged wi


ps consensus among competing views
Business Acumen
Shows understanding of the budget process
Applies small business practices to running unit Identifies and cultivates unit’s customers
                Takes time to analyze problems before taking acti


sed revenue from degree and nondegree courses, research grants, and consulting—will result in financial sustainability by 2015 under the low growth scenario for endowment income. Under no option will CPI be sustainable by 2017 if endowment income is


CORPORATIONResearch Report
DIONNE BARNES-PROBY, CELIA J. GOMEZ, MONICA WILLIAMS, MATT STRAWN, ISABEL LEAMON
Programs for Incarcerated
Parents
Preliminary Findings from a Pilot Survey
The prison population in the United
States grew drastically in t


lack and Latinx communities. For example, Black Americans represent 40 percent of the prison population (Sawyer and Wagner, 2020), despite only comprising roughly 13 percent of the U.S. population. Although less likely than Black people to be incarce


d challenges were staff burnout and limited funds.3
Abbreviations
ABE adult basic education
ACE adverse childhood experience
COVID-19 coronavirus disease 2019
DOC Department of Corrections
GED General Educational Development
MRT Moral Reconation Ther


d separation and lack of contact resulting from incarceration. Parental incar-ceration has also been classified as an adverse child-hood experience (ACE), and it increases the risk of these children having additional ACEs (Axelson and Boch, 2019). Yo


ates that Black and Hispanic children whose fathers are in prison are more likely to exhibit externalizing behavior problems than White children are (Craigie, 2011). Studies have also found that paternal incarceration is a risk factor for homelessnes


 carceral facilities
expanded considerably in the twenty-first century, largely because of the passage of the Second Chance Act of 2007. But expansion started in 2004, pre-ceding the Second Chance Act legislation (Loper, 5
Clarke, and Dallaire, 2019


 and Dallaire, 2019). There is little information on typical instructor credentials or background.
Aside from offering parenting education,
programs might provide visitation opportunities, enable remote communication, facilitate parent-child reading


en’s self-esteem and mental health (Purvis, 2013).
Racial and Gender
Responsiveness in Programming
There is a dearth of research on how parental incar -
ceration and parenting program outcomes vary
according to parent and child race, ethnicity, ge


rograms exist nationally, how they are imple-mented, and the extent to which incarcerated parents participate. Among the programs documented, the interventions historically focus on the needs of incar-cerated mothers, and few DOCs provide programs fo


t survey development and field-ing and (2) interpret the survey findings.
How This Report Is Organized
The next section details the study design for the proj-ect and is followed by a discussion of the study results in terms of the research questions.


g sources)
• st
rengths of program implementation (as
measured by program administrators’ perceptions)
•
 ch
allenges of program implementation
(as measured by program administrators’ perceptions).
A complete copy of the survey is available in
App


f Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, Bureau of the Census, 1994.10
online processes and calling states that met the inclu -
sion criteria. We primarily chose those states with a
30-day process and used those with a 60-day process as


sponse rate from Montana’s two facilities to 67 percent ( n = 6) of Iowa’s nine facilities.
In Table 3, we present information on key char-
acteristics of the 43 facilities in the sample, both collectively and disaggregated by state. The facili-ties’


ve. Kentucky and Montana collected data on three mutually exclusive categories only: Black , White , and other ; no data on residents’ Hispanic status were reported. In Vermont, data on race were col-
lected separately from data on residents’ Hispani


 begin, we wanted to know the number of parent-
ing programs typically offered at the correctional facilities in our sample. For the survey, we defined a parenting program as a structured set of activi-ties, services, supports, and resources intended


facilities without programs; Montana was the only state for which all sampled facilities in the state (two in total) reported offering programs for incarcerated parents. We gave the respondents at these facilities the opportunity to describe any ser


reak the cycle of recidivism by developing pro-fathering attitudes, knowledge, and skills, along with strategies to prepare fathers for release” (National Fatherhood Initiative, undated). As indicated by the program names, some programs are specifica


y and life stability fol -
lowing incarceration (e.g., housing resources)
• di
rect supports for children —resources or
activities directly administered to the children of incarcerated parents (e.g., peer support groups for the children of parents e


he programs. Nor do we know how time or resources are split across the different components. For this reason, it is difficult to provide more detail about how the components are brought together to form a coherent program. Although we cannot describe


ord themselves reading a book and then send the record-ing to their child.
Program administrators who completed the
survey reported that these sorts of activities are ben-eficial to the parents who participate. As one admin-istrator wrote in a free


risons showed that all states have some provision or policy that allows for visita-tion at their facilities (Boudin, Stutz, and
 Li
ttman,
2013). The literature suggests regular visitation is one effective strategy to sustain the parent-child relat


ideo visits, given the general suspension of in-person visits. Data from TABLE 8
Visitation Supports
Visitation SupportsNumber of
ProgramsPercentage
of Programs
Enhanced visitation 11 25.0
Separate child visitation area 11 25.0
Video or virtual vis


rator explained that their program has “[w]orkshops or courses on reentering the child’s life after release.” Six programs reported that staff work with participants on planning for housing after release, and five programs reported working with parti


urces
We also report details on program implementation, including participant characteristics, program struc -
ture, staff characteristics, and program resources.
Program Participation and Eligibility
We attempted to collect data on the number of pa


 = 4) offered only one-on-one meetings.
Although the length of program sessions varied by program, most sessions ranged in length from more than 30 minutes to more than an hour.TABLE 9
Program Structure
Program Structure Number of Programs Percentag


te DOC.
7 Ten program
administrators did not know how the programs were funded. This might indicate that the administrators who responded to the survey did not have access to information about program finances.
We also asked several questions about


blets, and smartphones). The “other materials and resources” category reflects different kinds of mate-rials that respondents did not feel fit in any of the existing categories, including materials for children (e.g., books, art supplies for visits),


that make programs gender responsive ( n = 6), such as
gender roles, men’s health, and masculinity. Admin-istrators representing two programs in the sample described being attentive to the needs of parents who identify as gay, bisexual, transgender,


gram
materials, space, equipment)36 81.8
Staff skills 25 56.8
Buy-in from the facility staff 25 56.8
Buy-in from the state DOC 23 52.3
Adequate funding 20 45.5
NOTE: Response choices were not mutually exclusive.24
Administrators from 36 percent of t


tion practices used. In addition, the report provides perspectives on how these programs are performing. To our knowl -
edge, this is the first study to directly inquire about efforts to respond to the distinct and diverse needs of incarcerated paren


l., 2004). Because facilities in our sample appeared to rely heavily on national programs, we recommend that programs consider adapting their curricula to provide education that explicitly equips parents to address the unique social, emotional, and b


vey might not possess a depth of knowledge about all aspects of the program. In addi-tion, some programs might not systematically col-lect the information we requested. Future efforts to collect information about program implementation should ensure


med most important from our review of the field’s literature, we faced some limitations in our data collection. For example, a survey is not an effective tool to request detailed information on why  the programs are structured in
a particular way. A


ishing, 2019, pp. 37–52. Notes
1 We intended to target states in which the percentage of
children with at least one incarcerated parent was above the
national average; however, we ultimately included two states that were just below the average beca


ispanic residents because of the differences in how the data were collected across the states. In Indiana and Iowa, Hispanic  was one of four mutually exclusive race and
ethnicity categories. In Kentucky, Hispanic  was not included as
a category. I


 222–244.
Heffernan, Esther, “The Alderson Years,” Federal Prisons
Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1992, pp. 20–26.
Hicks, Danielle L., Erin B. Comartin, and Sheryl Kubiak,
“Transition Planning from Jail; Treatment Engagement, Continuity of Care, and Rear


d Douglas W. Young, “Specialized Prisons and Services: Results from a National Survey,” Prison Journal, Vol. 87, No. 1, March 2007, pp. 58–85.
Dallaire, Danielle H., Rebecca J. Shlafer, Lorie S. Goshin,
Allison Hollihan, Julie Poehlmann-Tynan, J. M


ld and Family Studies, Vol. 26, No. 12, 2017, pp. 3247–3265.
Turney, Kristin, and Rebecca Goodsell, “Parental Incarceration
and Children’s Wellbeing,” Future of Children, Vol. 28, No. 1, Spring 2018, pp. 147–164.
U.S. Census Bureau , “QuickFacts: Po


ps://nrccfi.camden.rutgers.edu/resources/directory/
national-programs/
Nellis, Ashley, The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity
in State Prisons , Washington, D.C.: Sentencing Project, October
2021.
Newman, Claire, Cathrine Fowler, and


ell-being of children, youth, and their families. Gomez holds an Ed.D. in human devel -
opment and education.
Monica Williams  is a postdoctoral research fellow at RAND with a focus on criminology and criminal justice. She has
examined aging in U.S.


another form, any of our research documents for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.
For more information on this publication,
visit www.rand.org/t/RRA1412-1.
© 2022 RAND Cor


Photo credits
p. 1: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters/Alamy Stock Photo | p. 5: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters/Alamy Stock Photo | p. 19: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters/Alamy Stock Photo | p. 25: Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun/TNS/Alamy Live News.www.rand.orgCORPORATION


Amplifying the Speakers
Identifying High-Priority Needs for Law Enforcement
Public Information Officers
Michael J. D. Vermeer, Jeremy D. Barnum, Siara I. Sitar, Dulani Woods,
Brian A. Jackson
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The role of public information office


ished guidance and training for executives should
incorporate information on characteristics of effective PIOs, appropriate PIO roles and responsibilities (espe-
cially in small or midsized agencies), and beneﬁts and
trade-offs when hiring sworn or


 wide variety of benefits to an agency
beyond just disseminating information to the public. Participants described how PIOs can be used to improve internal communication, improve recruiting, engage the community to guide policy and strategy, gather


macy.
Social media has been and continues to be an important
tool for policing agencies in this respect, especially in the con-
text of crisis communications. A significant body of literature addresses the utility of social media in crisis communica


y social media); responding to media and public requests; assessing public opinion of the agency; and, in general, serv-ing as liaJsons between the agency, other governmental enti-
ties, the media, and the community (Bureau of Labor Statis-tics, 2021


tively write and speak in public (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021; Roberts, 2019). Additionally, this shift not only places individuals with experience communicating complex ideas in suitable positions but also may help increase public trust. Many a


eparing for the workshop, RAND
and PERF reviewed literature relevant to the use of PIOs in law enforcement and the challenges agencies face. This litera-ture review helped both to inform the initial scope and sub-ject matter of the engagement and to


eme, and the final needs were sorted into those same themes.
Following the discussion in each theme, experts partici-
pated in a ranking exercise to identify the most-important needs. Results were then clustered into top, middle, and bot-tom tiers th


sociated needs
• sharing information and building trust , with six associ-
ated needs
• public communications staff development , with five
associated needs.
Following the prioritization session (described in greater
detail in the appendix), we sor


rs to provide input.
aHave national organizations create regionally focused case studies identifying potential pitfalls and effective strategies for public communications speciﬁcally related to protests, civil unrest, and other challenging events. In


 agencies may not understand what
expertise and qualities make for a good PIO, especially with respect to differences between large and small agencies and the beneﬁts, trade-offs, and return on investment of using sworn versus civilian staff in the


m or Opportunity Potential Solution
Sharing information and building trust
PIO ofﬁces are often reactive rather than proactive,
communicating how departments are addressing ongoing, predictable, or long-standing issues of concern to their communitie


g an event,
and it is critical that messaging and strategy are shared across all partners to demonstrate a consistent, professional response to all stakeholders in the community and munici-pal government.
Participants noted that many departments ar


ive PIO can bring to the agency, nor what qualities make a PIO effective. Participants identified two high-priority needs to address these issues, both of which were related to creation and dissemination of best practices and training for police exec


ieve leadership’s intention in agency strategy.
Many of the benefits that the participants described require
buy-in from leadership; however, a PIO cannot be effective without integration into the culture of the agency. As one person noted, “the me


noted that an officer can be effective, but the officer needs to be dedicated to the role. The individual will need to invest in long-term relationships and partnerships, practice and train in certain skills (e.g., avoiding the use of police jargon)


described how, because of either inadequate
tools or simple inattention, agencies often have an insufficient understanding of ongoing or long-standing issues affecting their communities. When policing incidents happen locally, in nearby communities,


, the PIO needs to have a plan to consistently and transparently share gathered data with the community to show how the agency is open and responsive to community concerns. For this strategy to work, agency leadership also needs to have a commitment


d on how agencies invest in their public communications staff and on how agen-cies can ensure that these staff receive the training and develop-
ment they need to be effective. Some participants lamented that
training for PIOs and other public commu


of consistency in the chosen strategy, saying, “how we receive messages and who we receive them from is such a common
occurrence we don’t think about it, but you have to be ruth-lessly consistent with message across all platforms.” Participants also


tion and improve trust in their communities, PIOs may provide an invaluable resource, if they are given the tools that they need to succeed. This report is meant to identify some of the most-pressing needs for PIOs and serve as an initial guide for h


and experience of the mod-erators has the potential to influence which questions they pose to the group and how they phrase those questions. This could also introduce bias that could influence the findings.
Identification and Prioritization of Needs


 and potential solutions described by the participants in the separate interviews into a single summarized list. In advance of the first meeting of the virtual workshop, panelists were provided with the summarized list of issues and needs.
Virtual Se


within the polling system’s interface. If there was significant disagreement among the panel (the degree of disagreement was determined by our visual inspection of the histogram), then the participants were asked to verbally discuss or explain their


cipants had the option to indicate whether each problem and need pairing should be voted up or down on the list. A stylized mockup of this form is provided in Table A.1.
We then tallied the participants’ responses and applied
those votes to produce


Door, use of Facebook Live, rapid engagements with local news).2
Issue:  Many agencies simply are not consistently communicating with their communities at all. Without
proactively establishing those relationships, problems are not seen and potenti


rease by one tier  if its modified expected value was
higher than the highest expected value score in its initial tier. And a need could decrease by one tier  if its modified expected
value was lower than the lowest expected value in its initial ti


 and effective strategies for public communications speciﬁcally related to protests, civil unrest, and other challenging events. Include recommendations on
• merging communications plans with tactical plans• communicating clear goals for police respo


to better buy-in from line staff on engagement strategy and improved morale.1
When stafﬁng the ofﬁce, agencies may not
understand what expertise and qualities make for a good PIO, especially with respect to differences between large and small agenci


 These could be promoted or disseminated through existing
regional, state, and national organizations and associations.1
Many agencies do not have consistent,
comprehensive communications strategies that
coordinate messaging across multiple channe


guidance for building rap-port between sworn and nonsworn staff, and include aspects of public communications in ofﬁcer training).2
Many agency leaders still do not understand
the full value and potential of an effective PIO. They do not understand


 actions, and much more. This represents a lost opportunity for PIOs to build trust with communities.• Perform research to inform guidance for agencies on structuring
ofﬁces to give PIOs direct access to agency leadership. Examine
PIOs’ level of co


inated messaging approaches. Create regional training opportunities that provide recommendations and guidance for law enforcement PIOs to also form partnerships with non-law-enforce-ment PIOs and ofﬁces with similar roles to coordinate messaging.
• D


 refers to an individual’s perception of treatment in
a decisionmaking process, especially with respect to fairness and the individual’s agency and dignity in the process. Mazerolle et al., 2013, describes four essential components of procedural jus


ion for Improving Relationships Between Police and the Public,” Policing: An International Journal , Vol. 44,
No. 5, 2021, pp. 786–799.
Hollywood, John S., Dulani Woods, Andrew Lauland, Sean E.
Goodison, Thomas J. Wilson, and Brian A. Jackson, Usin


ation, RR-820-NIJ, 2015. As of February 22, 2020:
https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR820.html
Lee, Murray, and Alyce McGovern, “Procedural Justice and
Simulated Policing: The Medium and the Message,” Journal of
Policing, Intelligence, an


w York, and the anonymous reviewers from the U.S. Department of Justice .25About the Authors
Michael J. D. Vermeer  is a physical scientist at RAND. He is a technologist researching science and technology policy in criminal justice,
homeland securit


This report is one product of that effort. In April 2021, RAND conducted an expert workshop on law enforcement public informati on ofﬁcers
(PIOs). This report describes the proceedings of that workshop, the topics considered, the needs that the pane


blication of our research ﬁndings and recommendations, disclos ure of the source
of funding of published research, and policies to ensure intellectual independence. For more information, visit www.rand.org/ab out/principles.
Limited Print and Electr


Reducing Deaths in Law
Enforcement Custody
Identifying High-Priority Needs for the Criminal
Justice System
Duren Banks, Michael G. Planty, Madison Fann, Lynn Langton, Dulani Woods,
Michael J. D. Vermeer, Brian A. Jackson
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Congress


s or critical incidents that occur
in law enforcement custody should be developed to provide necessary context to understand law enforce-
ment’s role.
Data and reporting
• Challenges that law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and
other reporting entities


rticipation, including allocating resources to data providers, leveraging information already collected by those agencies, and other-wise incentivizing participation
• leveraging existing reporting platforms and coordinating
across providers to crea


ore, many experts in the public safety, criminology, public health, and public policy fields have called for a national data collection that provides comprehensive and reliable informa-tion about deaths that occur in law enforcement custody (e.g., Ko


 in the United States by more than 50 percent (Banks, Couzens, and Planty, 2015). The National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) was established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2002. NVDRS collects data from
death cer


 deaths that occur during federal arrest, detention, and ABBREVIATIONS
ARD Arrest-Related Deaths
BJA Bureau of Justice AssistanceBJS Bureau of Justice StatisticsCDC Centers for Disease Control and PreventionCOVID-19 coronavirus disease 2019DCRA Death


tional
settings (Russo et al., 2017). BJS reports that approximately
1,000 inmates die in U.S. jail facilities each year. Most of
these deaths are due to illness (46 percent of deaths in 2018) or
suicide (30 percent of deaths in 2018). In 2018, a


lections in recent
years to fill the gap in official government statistics on deaths in law enforcement custody; their findings also support the ARD program estimates. For example, The Washington Post  reported
that police shot and killed 1,055 peo


of knowledge surrounding these deaths; information needs of practitioners, policymakers, and the public; and opportunities to improve policies and practices that may prevent or reduce deaths occur-ring in law enforcement custody while also ensuring


cers, individuals in law enforcement custody, and the public.
As an initial step in the development of the engagement,
RTI staff reviewed relevant literature (e.g., scientific studies,
technical reports) on the challenges of collecting comprehen-


kshop participants were given an opportunity to review the rankings of needs following the workshop and vote to move needs up or down in terms of importance. For a more detailed description of the prioritization methodology that we employed, includin


 the context surrounding all incidents that could  result in fatali-
ties, including all incidents in which law enforcement deploy deadly force and deaths occurring in law enforcement custody that meet other inclusionary criteria described in DCRA: a


Data providers or gatekeepers are concerned about disclosing
active case information, respecting individual privacy, and releasing personal identiﬁable information (PII). Local laws and regulations often dictate what information can be released and


itional resources, require-
ments, alternate data collection strategies, and other reinforce-ment would certainly be needed to implement a comprehensive data collection on all fatal law enforcement incidents.
Participants concurred that the national


ry practices
and prosecutorial decisionmaking in response to ofﬁcer use of force and deaths that occur in law enforcement custody.
a• Conduct additional research into investigatory practices
for deaths in law enforcement custody and prosecutorial r


p participants
determined that there was no need to start from scratch with a new data collection; instead, they recommended focusing on understanding and addressing the challenges to participating in existing data collections. Participants also dis


le, are collected by both the FBI’s National Use-of-Force Data Collection and the BJA’s deaths in custody program, and they may also be reportable to state and local systems.
LEAs may also find reporting to be challenging because
of their concern a


ch of those factors may be addressed by changes to law enforcement training or policy. Although many train-ing programs and policies designed to prevent fatal incidents are in place, there is no rigorous evidence on whether any of these programs redu


sed alternate data collection strategies (GAO, 2021). The FBI’s National Use-of-Force Data Collection may be discontinued by December 2022 if participation in the current data collection approach remains insufficient.
3 GAO further
recommended that


le individu-als through existing professional and social networks (e.g., LinkedIn) and by reviewing literature published on the topic. We then extend an invitation to those individuals and provide a brief description of the workshop’s focus areas.
Fo


ew technology or tool in the sector that had not been used before). After identifying and refining the needs, we used a vot-ing process based on the Delphi method to elicit prioritization information from the group about the identified needs (RAND Co


are portion of Zoom using Microsoft PowerPoint slides that were edited in real time to incorporate participant revisions and comments.
Once the group reached consensus on a group of needs, we
conducted a real-time voting prioritization exercise usin


t product across all of the respon-dents and used that as the group’s collective expected value score for the need.
We clustered the resulting expected value scores into three
tiers using a hierarchical clustering algorithm. The algorithm we used wa


and build data collection models that address or leverage them.
• Provide for persistent mandates, incentives, resources
(including training), communication, stakeholder engage-ment (e.g., with other LEAs, advocates, policymakers) to institutional


ion.
• Deﬁne the lead agency for reporting purposes.• Develop and implement protections that address privacy
concerns. Specify appropriate uses of the data for disclo-sure and research purposes and provide education for data providers about appropri


 information about deaths that occur in law enforcement custody.
• Provide incentives and accountability for participating in
the FBI’s National Use-of-Force Data Collection and other national data collections with public reporting.2
There is a lack


is intervention models and programs.• Build a research and knowledge base to support the
development of training and policies on alternative mental health crisis response models and assess the impact of such models on use of force.Table A.1—Continue


nts occur-
ring in law enforcement custody and adopt the deﬁnition described in DCRA.Table A.1—Continued19Problem or Opportunity Potential Solution Tier
Data and reporting
Data providers or gatekeepers are concerned about
disclosing active case info


officer discharges a firearm at or in the direction of a person.
3  OMB stipulated that if the FBI did not achieve 60-percent partici-
pation by the end of 2022, the FBI was to end the data collection effort and explore alternatives for collecting la


elated Deaths in United States Vital Statistics and News-Media-Based Data Sources: A Capture-Recapture Analysis,” PLOS Medicine , Vol. 14,
No. 10, October 2017.
GAO— See U.S. Government Accountability Office.
GBD 2019 Police Violence US Subnational


, and Brian A. Jackson,
Caring for Those in Custody: Identifying High-Priority Needs to Reduce Mortality in Correctional Facilities , Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND
Corporation, RR-1967-NIJ, 2017. As of February 2, 2022: https://www.rand.org/pubs/resea


I in 2017 , he served as deputy director at the Bureau of Justice Statistics, overseeing multip le national data
collection projects on victimization and law enforcement issues. He holds a Ph.D. in justice, law, and society; public administ ration;


 research effort, called the Priority Criminal Justice Needs Initiativ e, is a component of
the Criminal Justice Requirements & Resources Consortium (RRC) and is intended to support innovation within the criminal justic e enterprise. For
more infor


tment of Justice. The opinions, ﬁndings, conclusions, and recommen-dations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reﬂect those of the Depart-ment of Justice, the RAND Corporation, or the organizations represen


Leveraging Technology to Support
Prisoner Reentry
Joe Russo, Michael J. D. Vermeer, Dulani Woods, and Brian A. Jackson
EXECUTIVE SUM MARY
High recidivism rates among justice-involved individuals are
a persistent challenge for the corrections sector


 institutions can apply for and secure IDs prior to release.
Coordination and continuity of care•
 Im
plementation guides should be developed that
highlight effective strategies for obtaining funding to establish automated solutions to support coord


ion efforts. Correctional agencies also require guidance to effectively collaborate with relevant agencies to provide incarcerated individuals with documenta-tion of identification prior to release. The participants recom-mended the development of in


ames, 2015). Indeed, each year, more than 600,000 individuals are released from state and federal prisons (Carson, 2020), and another 4.9 million cycle through local jails (Bertram and Jones, 2019). Some of these individuals will be on probation or p


justice-involved individuals have significant educational deficits and are more than twice as likely to have not completed high school compared with the general population (Harlow, 2003). Low levels of education, limited work experience, a lack of ma


itizens on community supervision must comply with their conditions of release. Therefore, in addition to addressing the needs of return-ing citizens, the sector has the obligation to protect the public by monitoring compliance with these conditions a


e.g., instruction, legal counsel, counseling, medical or mental health treatment) while providing the institution with additional benefits, such as less-frequent movement and decreased risk of contraband introduc-tion. Furthermore, by using teleprese


ounseling, medical or mental health treatment).5mated reminders could be sent to the supervisee about impor-
tant events, such as court dates and treatment appointments. The supervising officer and the supervisee also could share documents (e.g., con


t situations, incarcerated indi -
viduals can practice parenting skills in an immersive and safe environment.
Scenarios are also available for specific interventions. For
example, one application used by the Catalan Justice Depart-ment is designed t


. A meta-analysis of previous studies revealed that, on average, incarcerated individuals who participated in cor-rectional education programs had 43-percent lower odds of recidivating compared with those who did not participate (Davis et al., 2014).


ily and loved ones via messaging, phone calls, and/or video visits. They also can access a variety of content. Some content, such as books, television shows, movies, and games, is for entertainment purposes, while other content focuses on programming


stages. During the initial stage, project staff conducted individual interviews with each participant via a web-conferencing application. The length of the interviews ranged between 45 and 60 minutes.
The purpose of the interviews was to gather parti


anizational
issues
6Coordination/
 continuity
      of care
      3Equity
 issues
2
Figure 2. Breakdown of the 11 High-Priority Needs, by Theme
Number of high-priority needs
0123456
Coordination/
continuity of careOrganizational
issuesTransitional
s


logy can play an important role in correctional education.•
 Re
search the impacts of technology-facilitated educational delivery models on
key outcomes.
Transitional services
It can be challenging to provide incarcerated individuals with the identi


, whenever possible, be structured in modules that can be com-pleted in a relatively short period of time. This is particularly important in jail settings, where the average length of stay is 26 days (Zeng and Minton, 2021).Problem or Opportunity Ass


ns (e.g., it can be difficult to read body language). Furthermore, facilita-tion of virtual group sessions can pose unique challenges for staff (e.g., it is challenging to monitor participant engagement). According to participants, a greater evidence


capacity to create VR content. Given that most content would be useful for any agency across the country, the participants called for an examination of the feasibility of developing a publicly funded national repository of corrections-specific VR co


2). Identification is often required to access social services in the community, apply for benefits, obtain housing, or apply for a job; however, after a period of incarceration, many individuals might not have such documents as a birth certificate o


s have learned to live without their loved ones, and the transition period can be stressful for all concerned because roles and dynamics might have changed. The participants recognized that telepresence tools can allow more-frequent interactions than


es, gaming), which keeps them occupied and could lower the risk of misbehavior. Other agencies stress the efficiencies of automating administrative processes (e.g., order-ing from commissary, filing grievances, requesting medical appointments), which


s release via community-based providers and Adult Probation community resource centers. The participants reported believing that the field could benefit from the success in Allegheny County and other jurisdic-tions and recommended the development of


the sector is recognizing that returning citizens need access to technology at each stage of the reentry process; at the same time, the security risks of such access to technology need to be minimized. This is critical to providing access to the bes


development of pilot programs to support evaluation research to identify best practices for content development and implementation in cor-rectional settings and to determine the impact of VR-based interventions on key outcomes. Relatedly, the partic


e topic and scope have been determined, we recruit participants first by identifying knowledgeable indi-viduals through existing professional and social networks (e.g., LinkedIn) and by reviewing literature published on the topic. We then extend an i


estment, we fol-lowed a process similar to one that we used in previous PCJNI workshops (see, for example, Jackson et al., 2015; Jackson et al., 2016, and references therein). Participants discussed and refined problems and identified potential solut


wo-hour virtual meetings using Zoom, a virtual meeting platform. The meetings were con-figured such that the participants could see each other’s video feeds and collaborate to refine and edit the consolidated needs.
At the end of the discussion of ea


 question and dimension at the end of each topic area.
Post-Session Prioritization
Once the participants had completed this rating process for all of the topic areas, we put the needs into a single prioritized list. We ordered the list by calculating


previous work (Hollywood et al., 2016). Specifically, if every panel member voted “up” for a need that was at the bottom of the list, then the collective effect of those votes should be to move the need to the top. (The opposite would happen if ever


ccur because, for example, when the final expected value score for a need that was originally
19in Tier 3 falls just below the boundary value for Tier 1, that
need’s final score could be higher than that of some other needs in the item’s new tier (


idential facilities; however, some cannot afford a device and/or monthly plan payments.Need:  Explore such strategies as public-private partnerships with cellular providers to
give free or low-cost devices and services to returning citizens and maxi


on.•
 Re
search the impacts of technology-facilitated educational delivery
models on key outcomes.
Transitional services
It can be challenging to provide incarcerated individuals with the identification they will need upon release.•
 De
velop best p


 De
velop best practices and effective strategies for ensuring inclusivity;
these strategies should account for diversity among both service provid-ers and the target population (e.g., individuals with disabilities, non-English speakers, cultural di


deliver services.•
 De
velop implementation guides that identify the issues agencies need to
consider (e.g., initial costs, ongoing maintenance and upgrades) when retrofitting institutions and/or planning new institution design.23Issue or Problem As


f efficiencies and reduce workload.
Programming
Technology can be leveraged to better prepare incarcerated individuals for job opportunities.•
 Co
nduct demonstration projects and case studies for public-private part -
nerships that allow individual


are, and frustration for individuals.•
 As
sess the viability of common, generic, validated, and gender  -s
ensitive
and culturally sensitive assessment or case-planning tools (static, dynamic, protective factors) used by stakeholders in a geographi


 refers generally to a category
of technologies that allow an individual to experience their presence
in an immersive, digitally rendered environment.
References
Addison, Dionne, “Can Virtual Reality Really Work in the Real World of Corrections, R


Virtual Reality for Reentry
and Other Programs,” Prison Legal News , July 2, 2019.
Davis, Lois M., Jennifer L. Steele, Robert Bozick, Malcolm V. Williams, Susan Turner, Jeremy N. V. Miles, Jessica Saunders, and Paul S. Steinberg, How Effective Is Co


tion Program in
Oregon,” webpage, August 3, 2021. As of August 12, 2021: https://education.ket.org/news/outstanding-corrections-education-program-in-oregon/
Lake, Jaboa, “Preventing and Removing Barriers to Housing Security
for People with Criminal


l Protocol for Evaluating Virtual Reality Job Interview Training Among Returning Citizens Preparing for Community Re-Entry,” Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications, Vol. 19, September 2020.
Tanaka, Kurtis, and Danielle Cooper, Advancing Technolo


rt, Joe also became affiliated with ViaPath Technologies, a commercial entity that provides a variety of technologies and services meant to support reentry for incarcerated indi -
viduals, their support networks, correctional agencies, and returning


t be of interest are
•
 Jo
e Russo, Michael J. D. Vermeer, Dulani Woods, and Brian A. Jackson, Community Supervision in a Digital World: Challenges
and Opportunities , Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, RR-A108-10, 2021
• Jo
e Russo, Dulani Woo


-12.This publication was made possible by Award Number 2018-75-CX-K006, awarded by the National Institute of
Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommen -
dations expressed in th


Sex Trafficking and Substance Use
Identifying High-Priority Needs Within the Criminal
Justice System
Lynn Langton, Michael G. Planty, Duren Ba nks, Amanda R. Witwer, Dulani Woods,
Michael J. D. Vermeer, Brian A. Jackson
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A better


eer support, and
survivor-led services should be developed that incor-porate harm reduction strategies and recognize that relapse can be a part of the process of overcoming an addiction and exiting trafﬁcking.
Criminal justice response• Feedback and


ognize and identify trafficking victims as victims. This need to change mindsets regarding trafficking and SUDs is particularly important when it comes to communities of color, where systemic bias results in greater criminaliza-tion of behaviors asso


Ds, in turn, create issues in accessing and maintaining vic-tim services and assistance from criminal justice agencies.
This report begins by describing the nexus between sex
trafficking and substance use in the United States; summariz-ing what is


 such act has not attained 18 years of age” (Public Law 106-386, 2000, Section 103(8 and 9)). 3health, and beauty locations; and pornography. The primary
risk factor identified for sex trafficking victims was an SUD.
The intersection between sex tr


ricted or limited access to services and quality treatment, and receive unfavor-able treatment within the criminal justice system (Farrell et al., 2019; Price, Nelson, and Macias-Konstantopoulos, 2019). If a victim does enter into a treatment program


that limit their ability to meet the needs of
victims with co-occurring SUDs.
The intersection of sex trafficking and substance use pres-
ents many challenges to effective responses from the criminal legal system and victim services. Major challeng


th SUDs are often arrested
and charged with crimes related to their victimization.
 – Victims with SUDs often present problems with recall
and cooperation necessary for developing trafficking cases.
 – Prosecutors and judges are often not trained


urt program coordinators, judges, statewide trafficking task force members, and researchers. Several participants had lived experiences, enabling them to speak directly to the perspectives of sex trafficking victims with SUDs. All experts had a speci


, five were related to better
identification and screening of victims, including better educa-tion, training, and tools to assist first responders and members of the community on how to recognize and respond to a poten-tial victim of sex trafficking


 likely to be identiﬁed.
Sex trafﬁcking victims with SUDs are often frequent
users of emergency services and are seen as hostile and uncooperative by ﬁrst responders because of their addiction and trauma.Develop and implement training for law enforc


or other
victimizations they have experienced to law enforcement because they do not trust criminal justice actors—particularly after an arrest.Seek feedback and guidance from advocates, including those
with lived experience, on how to make crimina


lp address victim needs without setting them up for failure.
Trafﬁcking victims often lack the stability for long-term
participation in criminal justice cases, and trafﬁckers use SUDs to manipulate victims and keep them from participating.Establish


s described the relationship
between trafficking victims and the traffickers as a form of
Stockholm syndrome.
5
Participants noted that the failure to understand sex traf-
ficking victims’ lack of choice is particularly problematic in communities o


community better understand the problem and the signs. Participants noted the value of partnering with bar associations, police academies, and court systems to conduct training for prosecutors, law enforcement, and judges, respec-tively. Others raise


. They noted that many victim service programs have thresholds or requirements for participation that traffick-ing victims are unable to meet. For example, if victims have used or are using drugs, they are ineligible to participate in
certain housin


overy, others expressed that the first priority should be to get victims medication-assisted treatment for SUDs. They explained that, because someone under the influence of drugs will not be able to make decisions about their treatment, addressing th


nesses and challenges in collecting evidence, traffickers are often prosecuted for lesser offenses, such as drug, gun, and soliciting offenses. Often, these are minor charges that carry light sentences. Participants noted the need to imple-12ment tra


tting
victims necessary support, services, and treatment.
CONCLUSION
Sex trafficking victimization and SUDs are often co-occurring. Traffickers may exploit individuals’ existing SUDs to coerce them into sex trafficking, or they may facilitate SUDs


unbiased, representative results from experts and practitioners in the field. However, several limitations could affect the find-ings. The process typically elicits opinions from a relatively small group of experts. To limit the effect of group siz


esis of the indi-vidual interview input
3. a final voting stage, after the last interactive session, in
which participants provided their final assessment of the
rankings of the different needs.
Interviews
During the interviews, we asked practition


cipant.
For the probability of success  dimension, participants were
instructed to treat the 1–9 scale as a percentage chance that the need could be met and broadly implemented successfully.
That is, they could assign the need’s chance of success b


much attention in the short term (unless, for example, they can be addressed with existing technology or approaches that can be readily and cheaply adapted to the identified need).
Because the participants initially rated the needs one topic
area at