A Randomized Control Trial Evaluating a Prediction Tool for Risk Assessment and Recidivism: The Louisiana Experience

The Second Chance Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 110-199) helps to address the significant challenges individuals who are returning to communities from prison, jail, and juvenile residential facilities face. Programs funded under the Second Chance Act help to promote public safety by ensuring that the transition individuals make from prison and jail to the community is successful. Section 101 of the Second Chance Act authorizes federal awards to state and local governments and federally recognized Indian tribal governments that may be used for demonstration projects to promote the safe and successful reintegration into the community of individuals who have been incarcerated or detained.

BJA’s “Smart Suite” of programs invest in the development of practitioner-researcher partnerships that use data, evidence, and innovation to create strategies and interventions that are effective and economical. The goal of the Smart Reentry: Focus on Evidence-based Strategies for Successful Reentry from Incarceration to Community program is to support jurisdictions to develop and implement comprehensive and collaborative strategies that address the challenges posed by reentry to increase public safety and reduce recidivism for individuals reentering communities from incarceration who are at medium to high risk for recidivating. Within the context of this initiative, “reentry” is not envisioned to be a specific program, but rather a process that begins when the individual is first incarcerated (pre-release) and ends with her or her successful community reintegration and reduction in risk of recidivism (post release).

The grantee will utilize award funds to implement a project to examine the effectiveness of a newly-designed, customized risk/needs/responsivity tool used in conjunction with a streamlined reentry process meant for statewide adoption. This tool – called the Targeted Interventions Gaining Enhanced Reentry TIGER) – will be delivered to randomly selected participants along with an individualized Reentry Accountability Plan ReAP). The goals of this project are: 1) provide for ongoing enhancements to TIGER, the risk/needs/responsivity tool 2) accelerate its launch and provide needed staff training 3) deliver sustainable cultural change among correctional staff to ensure optimal success and implementation of the TIGER tool through Motivational Interviewing training, 4) offer a methodologically rigorous independent evaluation of the predictive validity of the TIGER for assessing risk and recidivism; 5) leverage additional resources, and 6) reduce the return to prison recidivism rate by 50%. These funds will allow five parishes, selected for their high rate of returning offenders and higher relative 5-year recidivism rates, to engage in this strategic expansion for 100 moderate to high risk individuals per site. In the last year of the project, these funds will further allow for its expansion into five additional parishes at 100 moderate to high risk individuals per site, leading to a total of 1,000 moderate to high risk individuals receiving grant-related services.

CA/NCF