NCJ Number
79797
Journal
Corrections Magazine Volume: 7 Issue: 5 Dated: (October 1981) Pages: 15-18,22-23,26-27
Date Published
1981
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the problems encountered in evaluating community-based corrections programs and concludes that after 10 years of research policymakers still do not know if such programs are more effective than imprisonment.
Abstract
Experts say that the results of research on community corrections are, in general, too ambiguous or contradictory. Too often the research has been sloppy, uninformative, or self-serving. A review of the published literature and consultation with criminal justice experts across the Nation show no clear, forceful, or consistent findings. On the whole, community-based corrections programs have not proven themselves to be demonstrably effective in reducing crime or in rehabilitating offenders, nor has any individual program or strategy emerged as more successful than any other in bringing about long-term change in offenders. Defenders of community programs say that these programs have, with few exceptions, proved to be no worse than imprisonment. They are measured against higher standards than either imprisonment or parole. Mostly it is the quality of the research on community corrections, rather than the philosophy itself, that has failed to live up to its promise. The problems of evaluation are not limited to community corrections but are widespread throughout all corrections research. These problems include poor research design, the lack of adequate controls, vagueness of the criteria for correctional success, and the legal and ethical constraints involved when using corrections clients in experimental research. Finally, a most serious problem is the conflict of interest that arises when program operators are asked to evaluate the success of their own programs.