DOI: 10.3886/icpsr36987.v1
title: Desistance from Crime Over the Life Course, South Carolina, 2005-2017
title: Version 1

description: The current study focused on 479 men and women from South Carolina who were enrolled as participants in the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) multi-site program evaluation shortly before prison release in 2004 or 2005. The original SVORI data suggested that the South Carolina respondents were similar to the multi-site sample with "committed to not going back to prison" as the most common reason for desisting and using drugs or alcohol as the most common reason for persisting. The goals of the current study were to (1) update information on the current status of these individuals across multiple domains (e.g., housing, employment, substance use); (2) gather additional administrative recidivism data to examine long-term offending; and (3) acquire information about the factors individuals associated with their decisions to desist from criminal activity, as well as circumstances associated with renewed criminal activity or desistence. Interviews were conducted with those that the study team were able to locate and additional administrative arrest and incarceration data were acquired for the full sample, providing recidivism follow-up over at least a 10-year period. Official administrative data were obtained from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (rearrests) and South Carolina Department of Corrections (reincarcerations). Arrest data span the entire arrest history (from first arrest through December 2015); reincarceration data span the period between the SVORI study prison release in 2005 and 2006 through June 2014. These data were obtained for the full sample of 479 South Carolina SVORI participants. Three components of interview data were collected. <strong>Desistance study interview data:</strong> 1 wave of in-person interviews was conducted with 208 study subjects who consented to participate in an interview. The research team used computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) to administer the survey, and interviews were conducted from September 2016 through March 2017. <strong>Life event data:</strong> The Life Events Calendar (LEC) is a tool used in qualitative and quantitative research to gather retrospective information about a person's life, experiences, and history. The approach is based on autobiographical memory and how entering events on a calendar or page help facilitate memory recall. LECs typically encompass periods of 5 years or less; this study's LEC covered a 10- to 12-year span to allow analysis since last contact with the study cohort. Data were collected from the 208 subjects who consented to be interviewed. <strong>SVORI interview data:</strong> This inventory includes files with select baseline and outcome data (e.g., self-reported employment, drug use, criminal behavior) for desistance study subjects who responded to follow-up interviews at Wave 2 (3-month), Wave 3 (9-month), and Wave 4 (15-month). This collection of administrative and interview data is organized into 14 data parts. Demographic data includes information on age, gender, race, and education.
description: The current study focused on the 479 men, women, and boys who were the South Carolina participants in the original Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) evaluation and who were enrolled and released from prison in 2004 or 2005. The goals of the current study were to (1) update information on the current status of these individuals across multiple domains (e.g., housing and employment); (2) acquire information about the factors individuals associated with their decisions to desist from criminal activity, as well as circumstances associated with renewed criminal activity or desistance; and (3) gather additional administrative recidivism data to examine long-term offending patterns.
description: Between 2004 and 2005, 479 individuals (345 men, 79 boys, and 55 women) were enrolled and interviewed as South Carolina participants in the multi-site evaluation of the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI). All initial, Wave 1, interviews were conducted in prison or juvenile detention facilities about 30 days prior to release. Subsequently, 3 follow-up waves of interviews were conducted at 3, 9, and 15 months following the original release in the community or, for those reincarcerated, in prison or jail. These interview data were supplemented with arrest and prison incarceration data collected from state agencies. For the current study, a new interview instrument was developed that included modules from the original evaluation, new modules that focused on factors linked to emerging theories of desisting behavior, and a life event calendar to capture details of their experiences between their original release from prison (2004 or 2005) and the date of the interview. The instrument covered a number of domains over the life event calendar period, including basic demographic information, education, attitudes (e.g., legal cynicism), receipt of programs and services, family (marriage, children, and intimate relationships), physical and mental health, criminal identity, peers, social support, location and living arrangements, employment and income, leisure activities, stressful life events, substance use, and avoided and committed criminal behavior. Although most items had closed responses, several were open-ended. Interviews were conducted by experienced and trained field interviewers using laptop computers. The field interviewer read a series of questions from the laptop screen and entered the respondent's answers. For some questions, individual responses were audio recorded for subsequent transcription. Administrative arrest data through December 31, 2015 were obtained from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
description: Not available.
description: Response Rates: Extensive tracing efforts were used to locate individuals for interviews that were conducted between September 10, 2016 and March 3, 2017. Of the original 479 Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) study South Carolina participants, 29 were confirmed to have died; 24 had moved from South Carolina; and 34 were unavailable during the interview period. The research team was unable to contact (locate) 149 individuals. There were 30 refusals by respondents and 3 refusals by others for potential respondents. Two interviews were terminated by the respondent before completion (consent withdrawn) and were lost. Thus, 208 individuals were successfully located and completed the interview (171 in the community and 37 in prison). Of the 208, 174 were male (24 of whom were juvenile males at the time of their original release) and 34 were female. The overall response rate was 46.2% (208 interviews of 450 eligible non-deceased respondents). There was variability in response rates across the demographic groups: the response rate was 43.7% for the male participants (150 of 321 or 46.7% for men at SVORI release; 24 of 77 or 31.1% for juvenile males at SVORI release) and 65.4% for females (34 of 52 female subjects).
description: Presence of Common Scales: None
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: Summary Counts of Recidivist Arrests and Charges from Administrative Data DS2: Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) Baseline Characteristics and Administrative Data DS3: Wave 2 Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) Study Outcomes DS4: Wave 3 Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) Study Outcomes DS5: Wave 4 Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) Study Outcomes DS6: Desistance Study Outcomes DS7: Wave 2 Reasons for Desistance and Recidivism Data DS8: Wave 3 Reasons for Desistance and Recidivism Data DS9: Wave 4 Reasons for Desistance and Recidivism Data DS10: Interview Response Indicator Data DS11: Module 1 Interview Data DS12: Module 2 Interview Data DS13: Module 3 Interview Data DS14: Life Events Calendar Data
description: Men and women from South Carolina who were enrolled as participants in the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) multi-site program evaluation shortly before prison release in 2004 or 2005. Smallest Geographic Unit: State
description: computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI)The study's qualitative interview data are not available at this time.