Funded by the Departments of Justice, Labor, Education, Housing and Urban Development, and Health and Human Services, the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) supports innovative reentry programs at the state and community level. As part of this effort, the National Institute of Justice is funding a five-year evaluation of SVORI programs conducted by RTI International and the Urban Institute. This article, published in the August 2006 issue of the Probation and Pretrial Services System Newsletter, outlines the research questions to be addressed by the evaluation as well as the methodologies employed- implementation assessment, impact evaluation, and cost-benefit analysis.

In this brief, we explore the reality of finding employment after prison from the perspective of 740 former male prisoners in Illinois, Ohio, and Texas. Interviews were conducted as part of a comprehensive, longitudinal study entitled Returning Home: Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry. Eight months after prison, 65 percent of respondents had been employed at some point, but only 45 percent were currently employed. Those who held a job while in prison or participated in job-training programs had better employment outcomes after release. Respondents who were employed and earning higher wages after release were less likely to return to prison the first year out.

This report presents findings from the Multi-site Evaluation of the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI). The results of our initial in-prison interviews with SVORI participants and comparison respondents are included, in addition to an overview of the SVORI programs observed. The report describes the characteristics of the adult male prisoners we interviewed, the services they reported needing, and the services they reported receiving prior to release. Overall, SVORI participants reported receiving more services of a variety of types than members of the comparison group, although there was considerable variation in the levels of services among the sites.

Children of incarcerated parents are often an invisible population, but analyzing and mapping local-level data on these children and their parents can help policymakers and advocates better understand their experiences and needs. This brief discusses the mapping of community data on these families, drawing on the experiences and insights of partners in the Urban Institute’s Reentry Mapping Network (RMN). The brief discusses the value of analyzing and mapping data on children of incarcerated parents, outlines potential data sources, and explores the process of working with and mapping data on this population.

This report is designed to help the corrections community, service providers and community groups prepare prisoners for the moment of release from prison and the time immediately following release. It describes the eight most basic and immediate needs returning prisoners have when they exit prison, recommends minimum policies practitioners can institute to meet these needs, and highlights the opportunities and challenges practitioners face when trying to improve their release planning policies. The report also uses the results of a UI survey of 43 departments of corrections to illustrate what release planning procedures are currently being implemented across the country.

Computerized mapping technology has become a valuable tool for law enforcement, criminal justice agencies, state and local policymakers, service providers, and community organizations working to understand and address problems related to crime, incarceration, and prisoner reentry. This research brief highlights innovative applications of mapping in the criminal justice field and discusses strategies for using mapping to inform justice policy and practice. The brief is based in part on a December 2007 meeting sponsored by the Urban Institute that brought together representatives from national criminal justice, social service, and government organizations to discuss justice mapping.

This brief analyzes data from 145 men released from Illinois prisons (2002-2003) and tracked for three years afterwards through personal interviews and reincarceration records, as part of the study Returning Home: Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry. Three years after release, 59 percent were reincarcerated-up from 34 percent at 16 months out. Those successful at avoiding reincarceration were older first-time releases with no illegal income or family violence prior to prison, and those who found employment and housing after release, reintegrated into new, less disorganized neighborhoods, avoided antisocial peers, and had a physical/mental health condition (which may have restricted activity outside the home).

The primary goal of this research is to estimate the costs and benefits of serving misdemeanor DUI offenders in the Anchorage Wellness Court (AWC), a specialized court employing principles of therapeutic jurisprudence. The Urban Institute conducted an impact and a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to estimate the effectiveness of the AWC. The study focused on the impact of the program on reducing the prevalence and incidence of new criminal justice system contact. Costs were collected to estimate the opportunity cost of the AWC. Recidivism variables were monetized to estimate the benefits from crime reductions. Outcomes were observed at 24, 30, 36, and 48 months.

Using data from the Urban Institute's Returning Home study, this brief examines post release supervision experiences in Illinois, Ohio, and Texas. The authors focus on addressing three questions: What are the parole experiences of those being released from prison? How do experiences on supervision affect post release outcomes? Does supervision benefit some groups more than others? Overall, parolees reported positive relationships with their parole officers but received relatively little tangible assistance finding a job or drug treatment program. Parole supervision was associated with increased employment and reduced substance use among former prisoners, but had almost no impact on self-reported crime or rearrest.

This guide provides guidance to merchants and their law enforcement partners in developing strategies to prevent public disorder problems, such as public intoxication, vandalism, and loitering. The guide walks readers through the process of understanding the root causes of public disorders, identifying potential strategies, and measuring the impact of those strategies. While public disorder problems vary based on local context, promising strategies to address them include: broadcasting classical music; improving lighting in parking facilities and building exteriors; securing perimeters to limit pedestrian access; and establishing policies and sanctions regarding acceptable public behavior.