Role of Community Service in Reducing Offending: Evaluating Pathfinder Projects in the U.K.

• NCJ Number: 197179
• Journal: Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 41 Issue: 4 Dated: September 2002 Pages: 311-326
• Author(s): Sue Rex; Loraine Gelsthorpe
• Date Published: September 2002
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This is a preliminary study of the effectiveness of the pathfinder projects in community service on reducing recidivism.

Abstract

The authors explain that studies on recidivism that were published in the mid-1990’s showed that community service may reduce reconviction rates. As such, pathfinder projects, which sentence offenders to community service work, have been implemented in 10 probation areas across England. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the pathfinder projects in reducing recidivism. The goals of the pathfinder projects are to encourage socially appropriate attitudes and behaviors, called pro-social modeling; to facilitate the development of employable skills; and to use community service to eradicate the problems that lead to offending. The profile of the typical offender who is sentenced to the pathfinder projects is a 27-year-old white male whose risk profile is low-medium. Data for the evaluation of these projects were collected from local information systems that contain data on the offenders, their criminal histories, and their experiences with the projects. Data were also collected from staff and offenders who took part in the pathfinder projects through the use of questionnaires and interviews. Results indicated that both offenders and staff members had positive experiences with the pathfinder projects. More specifically, offenders reported a high level of satisfaction with their treatment by staff members and offenders also reported seeing a certain amount of benefit to themselves and to the community from the work they undertook within the project. In terms of recidivism reduction, the evaluation revealed significant reductions in pro-criminal attitudes and self-perceived problems in those offenders who completed the community service hours in the project. Furthermore, 76 percent of offenders responded that they would be less likely to re-offend as a result of participating in the pathfinder projects. The authors caution that firm conclusions should not be drawn from these results as this was a preliminary study, in preparation for a final report on the pathfinder projects, which is due to be released in Spring of 2002. Notes, references