This document examines the development, implementation, and impact of the Cook County State Attorneys’ Deferred Prosecution Program; it provides a discussion of the methodology, including process and impact evaluations, as well as evaluation results.
This report describes the methodology, including process evaluation and impact evaluation comparing Deferred Prosecution Program (DPP) clients to non-DPP clients. It discusses the findings of DPP development and implementation process and program participation patterns; it also provides a discussion of the operations of the program model, geographic considerations about reporting, standardizing the screening review process, expungement process, impact of the program on participants, and limitations of administrative data collection. The researchers used a mixed methodological approach involving qualitative and quantitative methods, including a quasi-experimental design to measure outcomes. Research findings yielded several discussion points and recommendations, which focused on the effectiveness of the DPP model, the impact of the program on participants, and the limitation of the researchers’ findings due to the need to improve the quality of the quantitative programmatic data. The six appendices include: data instruments; DPP logic model; expungement packet review; detailed findings—impact evaluation; expungement packet suggestions; and data elements for Deferred Prosecution Case Management System.