This article reports the findings and methodology of a multiyear outcome evaluation of a prisoner reentry initiative developed within the framework of the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) program model.
The Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) paved the way for a new era of rehabilitation in corrections’ programming; however, there are a limited number of published outcome evaluations of SVORI programs and their progeny. The current evaluation focused on the use of SVORI programming in a Midwestern state. A comparison group was identified using propensity score matching. Program effectiveness was measured by recidivism outcomes of returns to prison and new convictions. Cox proportional hazards modeling found program participants to have a significantly lower number of new convictions compared to the control comparison group, but no difference was found in the risk for reincarceration. The implications of these mixed findings in recidivism outcomes are discussed. (publisher abstract modified)