Probation and Parole - Sanctions and Rewards

Get Smart About... Rewards and Sanctions: The Facts about Contingency Management

“A risk-based Incentives and Sanctions program is an evidence-based intervention where supervising officers apply sanctions or rewards in response to specific behaviors of the offender. The goal is to increase positive behavior change related to behavior such as reducing drug use or applying for jobs” (p. 1). This primer covers what contingency management is; how it works; why it works; who to use it with; important things to remember; what the research says; the immediate, certain, relevant, and consistent sanctions...

Early Termination of Supervision: No Compromise to Community Safety

The “effectiveness of early termination as a measure that permits probation offices to focus supervision resources on persons most likely to recidivate, without compromising the statutory purposes of probation and supervised release” is examined. There is only a 5.9% new arrest rate for offenders released early from supervision (early-term offenders) compared to a rate of 12.2% for full-term offenders.

Replicating HOPE: Can Others Do It As Well As Hawaii?

“When Judge Steven Alm wanted to change the behavior of drug-using probationers, he instituted a program that used strict "swift and certain" principles. A rigorous NIJ-funded evaluation in 2009 proved him right. Probationers in Hawaii's Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) program were significantly less likely to fail drug tests or miss probation appointments. They also were sentenced to less time in prison because of probation revocations than were probationers who did not participate in the program. Now, as jurisdictions around...

"Swift and Certain" Sanctions in Probation Are Highly Effective: Evaluation of the HOPE Program

“The HOPE program - Hawaii's Opportunity Probation with Enforcement - is an experimental probation program that emphasizes the delivery of "swift and certain" punishment when a probationer violates conditions of probation.” Sections of this brief cover; the positive effects of swift and certain sanctions; how HOPE works; why HOPE effectively reduces probation violations; the impact of HOPE on courts and officers of the courts-process evaluation; and additional research is needed. At the one year mark, 61% of probationers are less...

HOPE II: A Followup Evaluation of Hawai'i's HOPE Probation

"Hawai'i’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) Hawai'i’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement probation relies on a regimen of regular, random drug testing tied to swift and certain, but modest, sanctions to motivate probationer compliance. In two 2007 studies in Hawai'i, a comparison-group quasi-experiment and a randomized controlled trial, HOPE was demonstrated to improve compliance with terms of probation at 12-month followup, with large reductions in drug use, recidivism, and overall incarceration for offenders assigned to the program ...

This study extends...

HOPE Probation: Hawaii's Opportunity Probation with Enforcement

The CCCN's live webinar highlights Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE), a strategy to effect positive behavioral changes in probationers.