Reducing Revocation Challenge Final Report

This following report provides a summary of the key findings from a study partnership between the University of Wyoming and Denver Adult Probation Department (DAPD) designed to better understand the drivers of revocation within the DAPD. The DAPD provides supervision to approximately 6,000 adult cases sentenced out of the Second Judicial District. The project was funded through a grant from Arnold Ventures and managed by the CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance. A four-phase mixed-methods approach was utilized to better understand the drivers of revocation in Denver. Phase I focused on analyzing extant policy and practice that guides the processing of violations and revocation consideration. Phase II examined administrative data dating from 2015 through 2018 provided by the Colorado Division of Probation Services to explore important questions about revocation trends in the DAPD, such as why clients are being revoked (e.g. new crime vs. technical violations) and the influence of individual-level characteristics (e.g. age, gender, and risk level) on supervision outcomes. In Phase III, data was extracted and analyzed from client case files of 200 unsuccessful and 100 successful probation discharges, providing a more in-depth look into the supervision experiences of DAPD clients. Phase IV consisted of focus groups and interviews conducted with probation officers, supervisors, and clients, as well as important stakeholders like prosecutors and defense attorneys in order to better understand the challenges of probation supervision and how revocation decisions are made.