Evaluation of the Ridge House Residential Program: Final Report

• NCJ Number: 230741
• Author(s): Janeen Buck Willison; Caterina Gouvis Roman, Ph.D.; Ashley Wolff; Vanessa Correa; Carly R. Knight
• Date Published: May 2010
• Length: 92 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2004-DD-BX-1123
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)

Annotation

This study from the Urban Institute examined the effectiveness of the Ridge House Residential Program, a spiritually-based, short-term transitional housing program in Reno, NV, that provides substance abuse treatment and employability training to parolees.

Abstract

Findings from this study indicate that participation in the Ridge House Residential Program, a spiritually-based, short-term transitional housing program in Reno, NV, did not affect the incidence or prevalence of re-arrest. Specifically, using program completion as a variable, multivariate regression analyses found that offenders who completed the Ridge House program had a lower probability of re-arrest and that program completion was associated with a 16 percent decrease in the probability of re-arrest. The study also found that offenders who completed the program had a lower incidence of property and person crimes. The main goal of the study was to determine the effectiveness of the Ridge House program in reducing recidivism. The study examined recidivism rates for a sample of 617 parolees (156 program participants and 461 comparison cases) affiliated with the Ridge House Residential Program. Using multiple regression analyses, the study test three hypotheses regarding program participation: would participation lower the odds of any re-arrest; would participation lower the average number of re-arrests; and would participation prolong the time to re-arrest. Limitations of the study are discussed, along with recommendations for future reentry evaluation research. Tables, figures, references, and appendixes