NCJ Number
195859
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 66 Issue: 1 Dated: June 2002 Pages: 44-50
Date Published
June 2002
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This study examined the exit status of 179 offenders who were placed in the Vigo County Day Reporting Center (Indiana) during the calendar years of 1998 and 1999.
Abstract
Day reporting centers (DRCs) are highly structured nonresidential programs that use supervision, sanction, and services coordinated from a central focus. They are used as a community-based intermediate sanction that offers an alternative to both imprisonment and traditional probation. In the current study, data were collected on individual, case, and program characteristics as well as on exit status of the 179 subjects. The primary purpose of the data analyses, which used bivariate cross-tabulations and Chi-square tests of significance along with logistic regression, was to determine which predictor variables were statistically significantly related to the exit status of the subjects. A total of 125 subject (69 percent) successfully exited the DRC program; 54 subjects (31 percent) failed to complete the program due to absconding and revocation. Four individual characteristics were predictive of the subjects' failure in completing the DRC program; subjects who were 40 years old or less had five times more probability of failing than those who were more than 40 years old; subjects who were living with their boyfriends/girlfriends or relatives had three times more probability of failure than those who were living alone, with their spouse and/or children, or their parents; subjects who were not married had four times more probability of failure than married subjects; and subjects with long histories of alcohol/drug abuse had three times more probability than those with no such histories. In addition to these individual characteristics, five case characteristics were significant predictors of failure. Felons had almost three times more probability of failure than misdemeanants; subjects for whom the original charges were reduced had three times more probability of failure than those with no such reduction; subjects who were charged with three to five counts for their current offenses had almost eight times more probability of failure than those charged with only one to two counts; and subjects who were placed in the DRC as "direct commitment" and "pretrial bond" had one and one-half times more probability of failure than probationers. Only 42 percent of "direct commitment" clients successfully exited the program, and subjects with prior convictions had four times more probability of failing than first-time offenders. Also, sentence length was a statistically significant characteristic; subjects who were placed in the DRC for more than 120 days had two times more probability of failure than their cohorts who were placed in the program for up to 120 days. Implications are drawn for the court placement of offenders in DRCs. 2 tables and 16 references