Recidivism is an imperfect, often harmful way to judge the effectiveness of community-based justice interventions. However, it is also unavoidable. Using client recidivism data to measure the success or failure of interventions is a crude, but established practice that cannot be dismissed easily. Still, it would be possible to diminish the harm caused by simplistic recidivism comparisons. Researchers could measure recidivism outcomes and provide the results to community agencies privately and confidentially, much like annual medical checkups.
An independent research partner would be a key ingredient. Few nonprofit service providers can measure client recidivism routinely. They lack the necessary resources (e.g., staff, funding, and analytic expertise). They must be assisted by a competent research team. Such a project would achieve two key goals. First, it would provide service agencies with reliable and valid indicators of recidivism outcomes among their clients. Second, establishing routine analyses from an array of community agencies would eventually enable justice officials to monitor overall system effectiveness while avoiding the costs, delays, and misinterpretations that result from intermittent, audit-style evaluations.
In collaboration with the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (JohnJayREC) developed a protocol for conducting follow-up studies of client recidivism for nonprofit agencies in New York. Agencies are not publicly identified. Each analysis adheres to strict data-security safeguards to protect client and agency identities. Reports provide de-identified recidivism data that agency affiliates can use to check their own effectiveness.
| Highlights from NY.ROCS reports: Agency B Agency C |
Researchers at JohnJayREC analyze recidivism data for every participating agency, but all reports are confidential. Pseudonyms are used, such as Agency A, Agency B, etc. Reports describe the programming offered by the agency, the clients it serves, and referral sources, but the report never reveals the program’s actual identity. Participating agencies know which report is theirs, but they do not know the identity of the other participating organizations. The project creates information about client recidivism without subjecting nonprofit organizations to unwarranted public scrutiny.
Future Growth
JohnJayREC intends to grow the scope and diversity of ROCS projects. We invite potential affiliates to contact us to discuss the feasibility of recidivism checkups for their programs.
Email: mailbox@jjay.cuny.edu
ROCS: Concept Paper