Alternative Probation Strategies in Baltimore, Maryland

Data were collected from input-intake forms used by the State, probation officers' case record files, State police rap sheets, FBI sources, and interviews with State probationers. Nonviolent offenders who normally received probation sentences of 12 months or less were offered randomly selected assignments to one of the three treatment methods over 5 months; baseline data for probationers in each of the three samples were drawn from an intake form routinely completed for each case. Information from police records was used to perform an interim assessment of recidivism at the midpoint of the intervention for each probationer. Also, probationers were interviewed 6 months and 12 months after probation ended. The five codebooks presented are for the following files: intake, case record, summary of offenses, offenses, and the followup survey. Appendixes contain the input-intake form and manual, the case record data abstraction form, and the followup survey questionnaire.