NCJ Number
165421
Date Published
1994
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This outcome evaluation of Colorado's parole TASC (Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime) focuses on whether the program is being used, whether it is established and viable, and the outcomes of participation.
Abstract
Evaluation findings show that the program is being used extensively by the Parole Division. TASC participation has steadily increased and now reaches approximately 40 percent of parolees. There were approximately 1,200 TASC intakes in the last 12 months. Initially funded by a Federal grant, the program is now well-supported on an ongoing basis by State funds. Outcome evaluation has been determined by using experimental and control groups to determine both recidivism and rearrest after 1 year and 2 years. Problems with comparability have required data analysis on relatively small groups. A number of favorable outcomes were found, but numbers did not reach the level of high statistical reliability. In 1991 a TASC group (n=77) had 20 percent recidivism, compared to 41 percent for a control group (n=71) in the Denver and northeast parole regions. A 1993 study showed rearrest for 19 percent of the TASC group (n=31) and a 26-percent rearrest rate for the control group (n=46) in the southeast parole region. In this same year, a positive parole discharge was given to 68 percent of the TASC group (n=28) but only 48 percent of the control group (n=79) in the same region. A 1994 study found that 36 percent of the TASC group (n=39) recidivated after 2 years in this region; whereas, 43 percent of the control group (n=70) recidivated. Continuing evaluation aims to show that when linked with other phases of treatment as a community continuance phase of substance-abuse treatment, TASC contributes to the ongoing abstinence from drugs and crime. This report anticipates that additional data will show this relationship more consistently and to a statistically significant extent.