Restitution as an Atlernative to Incarceration - Experimental Results From Ada County, Idaho

• NCJ Number: 96622
• Author(s): W R Griffith
• Date Published: 1983
• Length: 18 pages
• Grant Number(s): 77-NI-99-0005; 79-JN-AX-0009; 82-JS-AX-0025
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: Institute of Policy Analysis
• Sale Source: NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

A comparative study of juvenile offenders randomly assigned to restitution or incarceration treatments in Boise, Idaho, suggests that incarceration has no greater effect on recidivism than restitution and possibly produces negative consequences.

Abstract

In the project, 83 youths were assigned restitution which involved a monetary or unpaid community service order, while 95 were sentenced to incarceration -- on the average l week in an institution. No significant statistical differences existed between the two groups. Both were predominantly white males with a mean age of 15 who attended school full-time. Data on recidivism were collected from official court records. For youth assigned restitution, 47 percent committed no subsequent offense, while 41 percent of youths assigned to incarceration did not recidivate. When rates were calculated and standardized to reflect the number of offenses per 100 youths per year, annual rates of reoffending were about 14 percent higher for the incarcerated group. Another study of these referrals in Boise showed lower rates of reported self-delinquency among restitution youths. These two sets of findings, coupled with the lower costs of a restitution program and the benefits produced for the victim, the community, and the offender, suggest that the restitution project be continued. Tables and four references are supplied.