| North Carolina's Structured Sentencing law established community corrections programs (primarily day reporting centers) for offenders sentenced to Intermediate punishments, many of whom would heretofore have gone to prison. The primary aim of these programs is to provide effective rehabilitation. The typical client has a history of prior convictions, is currently on probation for a nonviolent offense, and has a substance abuse problem. Specific goals of the programs are to reduce recidivism, probation revocations, relapse to substance abuse, and overall system costs. To address whether the state has implemented programs that may help produce these outcomes, this study compares several types of outcomes for program clients to those for a similarly situated comparison group of probationers. The outcomes examined during the 12-month follow-up period include rearrest, reconviction, reincarceration, probation violations, readmission to substance abuse treatment, results of urine drug screens, and employment. These outcomes are examined in light of the two groups' risk of reoffending and need for services (as assessed by the Level of Service Inventory-Revised), their substance abuse history (from the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory, and the type and intensity of services received in the DRCs compared to services received as part of typical probation supervision. |
Updated 05/20/2006