About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

55 J. Crim. L. Criminology & Police Sci. 70 (1964)
A Study of Adult Probation Violation Rates by Means of the Cohort Approach

handle is hein.journals/jclc55 and id is 80 raw text is: A STUDYOF ADULT PROBATION VIOLATION RATES BY MEANS OF THE COHORT APPROACH GEORGE F. DAVIS* In recent years there has been considerable at- tention devoted to studying the differential rates of recidivism for those individuals released on parole from state correctional institutions. While it has been generally recognized that recidivism, as one measure of the effectiveness of a rehabilita- tion program, could be applied to probation as well as parole, its application to this field has been very limited. One reason for this is the decentralized nature of probation services. In most states, one agency handles all defendants released on parole from state penal institutions, while probation is usually administered by the individual counties. Many of these counties simply do not have the necessary funds or staff to set up the statistical controls that are needed to study the factors that contribute to success or failure on probation. While it is true that some of the larger counties in each state do have statistical controls that would permit a study of violation rates, the data axe seldom used for these purposes. Also, because of the decentrali- zation just mentioned, there has been little impetus for developing uniform criteria of what is a success- ful or unsuccessful case. The criteria used in parole recidivism studies are not uniformly applicable to the field of probation in that recidivism must be viewed in light of the program under study. The level of conduct expected of a misdemeanant, or a probationer with no extensive criminal record, may be quite different from the level of conduct ex- pected of a felon released on parole from a state correctional institution. The problem then is what methods can be em- ployed to bring probation data together from many different jurisdictions so that uniform criteria can be adopted for measuring recidivism. It would seem that the task of gathering uniform data, making consistent interpretations, and establishing criteria for a study of recidivism should fall to a * The author is Associate Social Research Technician in the Division of Research of the California Youth Authority. He previously served for seven years as Associate Research Technician in the California Bureau of Criminal Statistics, where he was in charge of the section which collects, analyzes, and publishes data on felony prosecutions and adult probation in California. central agency, preferably statewide, that would be in a position to analyze the data within the frame- work of the laws of the state and publish meaning- ful statistics that would be beneficial to the field as a whole. Unfortunately, not more than a handful of states is collecting probation statistics in any comprehensive form, and only a few of these have attempted recidivism studies.' PROBLEMS IN MEASURING RECIDIVISM The first prerequisite to launching a study of probation violation rates is a comprehensive set of statistics that will cover the following points: (1) characteristics of the defendant, (2) reason for referral, (3) disposition of the referral, and (4) pro- bation follow-up. This body of knowledge would present an excellent picture of how probation is locally administered as well as tell what proportion of cases could be expected to survive probation without committing additional offenses. In addi- tion, the critical areas in rehabilitation could be identified and examined more closely, i.e., the period in which most violations occur, the offenses that have the highest failure rates, the ages that produce the most violations, the chances of success on probation for those belonging to minority groups, the effect of certain conditions of probation, etc. Much of this information could be put to im- mediate use by probation administrators in plan- ing their programs, explaining these programs to the general public, and increasing the effectiveness of probation services. A long-range value would be in these data providing the basic material for studies that would delve into areas not immediately accessible to standardized reporting. Generally, recidivism studies suffer from one or more of the following deficiencies: (1) they contain too few cases for reliable analysis, (2) they do not use a proper base for calculating the rate of viola- tion, (3) accurate follow-up data on defendants released on probation are often implied, but rarely evidenced, and (4) court procedures and policies ' A pioneering effort in the cohort approach to re- cidivism can be found in the research reports of the Wisconsin Department of Public Welfare, Bureau of Research and Statistics.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most