Intensive Supervision for High-Risk Offenders in 14 Sites in the United States, 1987-1990

In 1986, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) funded a
demonstration project of intensive supervision programs (ISPs),
alternatives to control sanctions that involve community sanctions and
emphasize stringent conditions and close monitoring of convicted
offenders. The primary intent of the demonstration project was to
determine the effects of participation in an ISP program on the
subsequent behavior of offenders and to test the feasibility of the
ISP's stated objectives: (1) to reduce recidivism by providing a
seemingly cost-effective alternative to imprisonment, and (2) to
provide an intermediate punishment between incarceration and regular
probation that allows the punishment to fit the crime. Fourteen sites
in nine states participated in the project and each of the selected
sites was funded for 18 to 24 months. Individual agencies in each site
tailored their ISP programs to their local needs, resources, and
contexts, developed their own eligibility criteria, and determined
whether probationers met those criteria. While the individual ISP
projects differed, each site was required to follow identical
procedures regarding random assignment, data collection, and overall
program evaluation. Data collection instruments that differed in the
amount of drug-related questions asked were used for the six- and
twelve-month reviews. The "non-drug" data collection instrument,
used in Contra Costa, Ventura, and Los Angeles counties, CA, Marion
County, OR, and Milwaukee, WI, gathered drug data only on the number
of monthly drug and alcohol tests given to offenders. The "drug"
data collection instrument was distributed in Atlanta, Macon, and
Waycross, GA, Seattle, WA, Santa Fe, NM, Des Moines, IA, and
Winchester, VA. Variables regarding drug use included the number of
drug tests ordered, the number of drug tests taken, and the number of
positives for alcohol, cocaine, heroin, uppers, downers, quaaludes,
LSD/hallucinogens, PCP, marijuana/hashish, and "other". The drug
questions on the instrument used in Dallas and Houston, TX, were the
same as those asked at the drug sites. Once a site determined that an
offender was eligible for inclusion, RAND staff randomly assigned the
offender to either the experimental ISP program (prison diversion,
enhanced probation, or enhanced parole) or to a control sanction
(prison, routine probation, or parole). Assignment periods began in
January 1987 and some sites continued to accept cases through January
1990. Each offender was followed for a period of one year, beginning
on the day of assignment to the experimental or control program. The
six-month and twelve-month review data contain identical variables:
the current status of the offender (prison, ISP, or terminated),
record of each arrest and/or technical violation, its disposition, and
sentence or sanction. Information was also recorded for each month
during the follow-up regarding face-to-face contacts, phone and
collateral contacts, monitoring and record checks, community service
hours, days on electronic surveillance (if applicable), contacts
between client and community sponsor, number and type of counseling
sessions and training, days in paid employment and earnings, number of
drug and alcohol tests taken, and amount of restitution, fines, court
costs, and probation fees paid. Background variables include sex,
race, age at assignment, prior criminal history, drug use and
treatment history, type of current offense, sentence characteristics,
conditions imposed, and various items relating to risk of recidivism
and need for treatment. For the two Texas sites, information on each
arrest and/or technical violation, its disposition, and sentence or
sanction was recorded in separate recidivism files (Parts 10 and
17). Dates were converted by RAND to time-lapse variables for the
public release files that comprise this data collection.