NCJ Number
81223
Date Published
1981
Length
35 pages
Annotation
Descriptive information on offense seriousness is provided for the probation caseloads of the three sites participating in the Improved Correctional Field Services Project -- a project developed to test the effectiveness of using risk-screening procedures to assign probationers to different supervision levels.
Abstract
The studies described in companion reports demonstrated that offense seriousness scores are not additive, a property assumed for earlier scale development, and that a multidimensional approach to scale development may be more useful and necessary for evaluating program outcomes. The development of a multidimensional offense seriousness scoring system is described in another report. To describe the probation caseloads of the three project sites according to offense seriousness, the new measure was applied to samples from each jurisdiction. Differences in the probationers of the various sites are described. The profiles of offense seriousness over six dimensions are presented and compared with information available from a single-dimension approach. Although the primary goal -- to assess, in a manner refined through the measurement of offense seriousness, the treatment outcomes of interest -- cannot presently be met, a great deal of information has been gained through the use of the seriousness concept. Probationer populations can now be profiled according to offense characteristics, and these profiles appear to provide an advantage over the single-dimension approach advocated by Sellin and Wolfgang (1964). Whether this new information can be used in assessing treatment outcomes remains to be tested. The appendix describes the scoring system and its rationale. Graphic data are provided. For the other reports in this series, see NCJ 81216-81222 and NCJ 81224.