Transcript Drug Courts: Do they really work?

Re-Entry and
Recidivism
Libby Deschenes, Ph.D.
Cal State University, Long Beach
Barbara Owen, Ph.D. and
Jason Crow
Cal State University, Fresno
Increasing Burden on CJS
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics Correctional Surveys
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Drug Offenders Increasing
Percentage of Prison Releases
Source: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/reentry/releases.htm
3
Increases in Recidivism
Source: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/reentry/recidivism.htm#recidivism
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Challenges of Re-entry

Serious social and medical problems
 75% history drug/alcohol abuse
 16% report a mental condition
 Less than one-third received treatment

Few have marketable skills or sufficient
literacy to become gainfully employed
 33%
 60%
 25%
 33%
unemployed at arrest
have GED or HS diploma
in vocational training programs
participated education programs
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Source: J. Petersilia (2005) Hard Time: Ex-Offenders Returning Home after Prison
Current Research

Study funded by NIJ using archived data
 Examines
recidivism patterns during 3 years
post release
 Evaluates measures of offense specialization
How do incarceration and recidivism of
males and females differ?
 What factors will be important for prisoner
re-entry?

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Research Design

Secondary data
 Collected

by Bureau of Justice Statistics
Three year follow-up of inmates
released in 1994
 Discharged

from 15 states
Weighted data for all analyses
 248,528
males
 23,585 females
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Data Sources for
Recidivism Measures

Official FBI and state criminal histories
 Rearrest
 Reconviction
 Resentenced

to prison
Official criminal history and state DOC
 Return
to prison with or without new sentence
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Results

Sample characteristics by gender
 Demographics
 Criminal
history
 Recidivism

Patterns of male and female offending
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Comparing Demographics
by Gender




Females represent 8.7% of total sample
Black women (50.5%) more represented than
White women (48.5%), in direct contrast with
males (Black, 48.3%; White, 50.6%)
Hispanic women underrepresented in
comparison to males (19.6% versus 25%)
Women released later in life than men
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Type of Incarceration Offense
50%
Male
Female
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Violent
Property
Drugs
Public
Order
Other
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Comparing Sentences
by Gender




Higher proportion of women (79%) incarcerated
for property or drug offense than men (65%)
Women sentences shorter than males
by 10.3 months, averaging 49.6 months
Women served a mean time of 14.2 months, 6.7
months less than the men
Women served 30.2% of original sentence, men
served 35.7% of original sentence
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Comparing Criminal History
by Gender
Similar prior arrest rates
(92.8% and 93.2%, respectively)
 Males more likely to have at least one
prior conviction (96.9% to 89.1%)
 Women less likely to have a prior prison
sentence (37.3% vs. 44.2%)

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Recidivism for Male and Female
Prisoners
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Male
Female
REARR
RECON
RENPS
RPWOW
REARR: Rearrested (recidivated)
RECON: Reconvicted
RENPS: Returned to prison with a new sentence
RPWOW: Returned to prison with or without a new sentence
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Violent Offense Category by
Recidivism Status by Gender
50%
40%
30%
Male
20%
Female
10%
0%
REARR
RECON
RENPS
RPWOW
REARR: Rearrested (recidivated)
RECON: Reconvicted
RENPS: Returned to prison with a new sentence
RPWOW: Returned to prison with or without a new sentence
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Property Offense Category by
Recidivism Status by Gender
50%
40%
30%
Male
Female
20%
10%
0%
REARR
RECON
RENPS
RPWOW
REARR: Rearrested (recidivated)
RECON: Reconvicted
RENPS: Returned to prison with a new sentence
RPWOW: Returned to prison with or without a new sentence
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Drug Offense Category by
Recidivism Status by Gender
50%
40%
30%
Male
Female
20%
10%
0%
REARR
RECON
RENPS
RPWOW
REARR: Rearrested (recidivated)
RECON: Reconvicted
RENPS: Returned to prison with a new sentence
RPWOW: Returned to prison with or without a new sentence
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Public-order Offense Category
by Recidivism Status by Gender
50%
40%
30%
Male
Female
20%
10%
0%
REARR
RECON
RENPS
REARR: Rearrested (recidivated)
RECON: Reconvicted
RENPS: Returned to prison with a new sentence
RPWOW: Returned to prison with or without a new sentence
RPWOW
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Other Offense Category by
Recidivism Status by Gender
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
Male
Female
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
REARR
RECON
RENPS
REARR: Rearrested (recidivated)
RECON: Reconvicted
RENPS: Returned to prison with a new sentence
RPWOW: Returned to prison with or without a new sentence
RPWOW
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Rearrest Rates of Female and All
Prisoners by Time after Release
Cumulative Percent Rearrested
100
90
80
70
60
Female
All
50
40
30
20
10
0
6 Months
1 Year
2 Years
Time to Rearrest
3 Years
20
Cumulative Percent Reconvicted
Reconviction of Female and All
Prisoners by Time after Release
50
45
40
35
30
Female
All
25
20
15
10
5
0
6 Months
1 Year
2 Years
Time to Reconviction
3 Years
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Cumulative Percent Returned to Prison
with a New Sentence
Return to Prison of Female and All
Prisoners by Time after Release
50
45
40
35
30
Female
All
25
20
15
10
5
0
6 Months
1 Year
2 Years
3 Years
Time to Return to Prison with a New Sentence
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Time to Rearrest for Females
1
Violent
Property
Trafficking
Possession
Disorder
Other
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
Days since Release
10
80
96
0
84
0
72
0
60
0
48
0
36
0
24
0
12
0
0
0
Proporion surviving
0.9
Variables in the
Equation
black
273.3
hispanic
22.6
sentence 144.6
age rlse
647.1
# priors 2259.9
time serve 36.0
violent first 41.8
drug first
63.1
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Type of Rearrest for Females
Public
Order
11%
Other
4%
None
43%
Drugs
17%
Property
20%
Violent
5%
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Mean Number of Offenses
Criminal Career Patterns
for Females
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
Before
After
1.5
1
0.5
0
Violent Property
Drugs
Public
Disorder
Other
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% of Career
Career Offense Types
for Females
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Violent
Property
Drug
Trafficking
Drug
Possession
Public
Disorder
Other
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Preliminary Findings on Female
Recidivism and Specialization



Three strongest predictors
 Number of prior arrests
 Age at release
 African-American race
Drug and property offenders more likely than
violent offenders to be re-arrested
High proportion of career offenses same type
 Over half of property offenders repeat
 About one third for violent or drug offenses
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Policy Implications

Male violent offenders pose greatest risk
 Need
for community reinvestment initiatives
to reverse socioeconomic risk factors

Female property and drug offenders
highest rates of recidivism
 Community-based
treatment may be more
appropriate than prison
 Re-entry should focus on drug treatment,
stable housing, wraparound services
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California Prisons
versus Other States
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Rearrested
Reconvicted
California
Prison from
New Crime
New York
Prison from
Technical
Violation
Return to
Prison
Texas
Source: Fischer (2005) UCI Center for Evidence Based Corrections Bulletin 1(1)
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California Recidivism Has
Different Policy Implications

Fischer’s analysis controls for background
 Rearrest
not higher in CA compared to FL
 Reconviction lower in CA compared to NY



High rates of technical violations partially
explained by fact that nearly all CA prisoners
report to parole agents
Petersilia (2005) recommends reinstating
discretionary parole
Austin, Hardyman & Irwin (2002) suggest
reducing time on parole to 6 months and require
parole board guidelines based on risk and need
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