Vermont Community Justice Center Reparative Panel Programs: Outcome Evaluation Final Report

"This outcome evaluation is specifically focused on Community Justice Center (hereafter, “CJC”) Reparative Panel programs. CJC Reparative Panel programs work with community members to meet with those affected by crime and those who committed the offense to develop agreements about how to repair the harm caused by the offense, including to affected relationships. This outcome evaluation of CJC Reparative Panel programs was designed to answer four questions associated with the post-program behavior of offenders who completed a CJC Reparative Panel program from May 2, 2007 to April 19, 2011" (p. 1). Findings are presented for the following four research areas: who are the individuals convicted of additional crimes after participating in a CJC Reparative Panel program; when were they convicted; what crimes did they commit; and what county did they commit the crimes in. The CJC Reparative Panel program appears to reduce the recidivism of both pre- and post-adjudication participants: the recidivism rate for pre-adjudication participants is 18.1% compared to 30.1% for non-participants; 27.1% vs. 41.4% for post-adjudication participants.