Browsing by Subject "Recidivism"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    A note on the multiplicative fairness score in the NIJ recidivism forecasting challenge
    (Springer Nature, 2021) Mohler, George; Porter, Michael D.; Computer Science, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering
    Background: The 2021 NIJ recidivism forecasting challenge asks participants to construct predictive models of recidivism while balancing false positive rates across groups of Black and white individuals through a multiplicative fairness score. We investigate the performance of several models for forecasting 1-year recidivism and optimizing the NIJ multiplicative fairness metric. Methods: We consider standard linear and logistic regression, a penalized regression that optimizes a convex surrogate loss (that we show has an analytical solution), two post-processing techniques, linear regression with re-balanced data, a black-box general purpose optimizer applied directly to the NIJ metric and a gradient boosting machine learning approach. Results: For the set of models investigated, we find that a simple heuristic of truncating scores at the decision threshold (thus predicting no recidivism across the data) yields as good or better NIJ fairness scores on held out data compared to other, more sophisticated approaches. We also find that when the cutoff is further away from the base rate of recidivism, as is the case in the competition where the base rate is 0.29 and the cutoff is 0.5, then simply optimizing the mean square error gives nearly optimal NIJ fairness metric solutions. Conclusions: The multiplicative metric in the 2021 NIJ recidivism forecasting competition encourages solutions that simply optimize MSE and/or use truncation, therefore yielding trivial solutions that forecast no one will recidivate.
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    A rapid review of literature on factors associated with adult probation revocations
    (Taylor & Francis, 2022) Diaz, Carmen L.; Rising, Staci; Grommon, Eric; Northcutt Bohmert, Miriam; Lowder, Evan Marie
    Criminal justice stakeholders have increasingly relied on probation supervision as an alternative to incarceration and yet, probation revocations often result in incarceration. As such, increased understanding of the mechanisms behind revocations and strategies to reduce them is critical. We conduct a rapid review of the literature on factors associated with probation revocations. Specifically, we review 50 articles on how probation officer behavior, officer-client relationships, caseload size, supervision intensity, monetary sanctions, probation client characteristics, or programming and services are associated with probation revocations. Though the literature is limited, and findings are mixed, the most consistent findings indicate that officer-client relationships involving trust, support, respect, and empathy as well as reduced caseload sizes and cognitive behavioral therapy programs are associated with probation success while intensive supervision programs; greater monetary sanctions and nonpayment of those sanctions; and being Black and less educated are associated with poorer supervision outcomes. Implications for future research, policy, and practice are discussed.
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    An Examination of the Bachelor's Degree Attainment Experiences of African American Males Post-Incarceration
    (2021-08) Wallace, James W., Jr.; Murtadha, Khaula; Thompson, Chalmer; Scheurich, Jim; Applegate, Rachel
    The United States of America incarcerates more of its citizens than any other industrialized nation. Moreover, African American males are disproportionately targeted for incarceration in a system reminiscent of the system of slavery abolished after the civil war. As the cycle of recidivism plays itself out in this nation, this research examines the experiences of Black males who have broken the cycle to reestablish themselves within society through educating themselves in our nation's colleges and universities. This work is a phenomenological multiple case study that examines the experiences of five men who were incarcerated for a felony offense and successfully obtained bachelor's degree upon release. This research asks the questions: what motivated the pursuit of a degree, how did they pay for it, what resources were utilized, what challenges were overcome, and what impact this achievement had on their lives? Additionally, this research examines current correctional and educational policies and their impact on the Black community and concludes by making recommendations grounded in the research on how the nation can reduce recidivism rates and better serve African American communities.
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    Implications for Occupational Therapy in Community Re-Entry
    (2021-04-27) Vest, Breea; DeRolf, Annie; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences; Edwards, Rhiannon
    The United States has the highest rates of incarceration in the world (Sawyer & Wagner, 2020). Long periods of incarceration lead to occupational deprivation, alienation, and decreased autonomy. A longitudinal study from 2005-2010 found that 67.8% of incarcerated individuals were re-arrested for a new crime within three years and 76.6% within 5 years (Durose et al., 2014). The purpose of this research is to further determine the role of occupational therapy within the criminal justice system and how it can promote occupational justice, improve overall well-being, and decrease the rates of recidivism. The continuous high rates of recidivism signal a call to action, to modify the programming in place to better serve those that it affects. This research took place over a 14-week period at both a work-release facility and a non-profit organization. An interest survey was sent out to participants who have utilized Public Advocates in Community Re-entry (PACE) resources. A total of 74 responses were collected and the data was analyzed to determine the levels of interest in different types of programming. Pre/Post-test surveys were also administered at Duvall Residential Center regarding the PACE career readiness course. Data was collected to identify gaps in knowledge, areas of improvement, and overall general feedback regarding the course. A total of 36 responses were collected. Occupational therapists can provide direct support as well as serve as a consultative role within this setting. OT’s can also provide client-centered and/or group-based programming to work with individuals to meet their personal and professional goals through a client-centered approach. While more research is needed to fully determine the role of OT within the criminal justice setting, survey results indicate that there is a need for OT.