Smart Supervision St. Louis County Probation Violator Program

The Second Chance Act, signed into law on April 9, 2008, provides a comprehensive response to the increasing number of people who are released from prison and jail and returning to communities, including resources to address the myriad needs of these offenders to achieve a successful return to their communities. As a complement to the Second Chance Act programs, the fiscal year (FY) 2017 Smart Supervision Program (SSP) seeks to improve probation and parole success rates and reduce the number of crimes committed by those under probation and parole supervision, which would in turn reduce admissions to prisons and jails and save taxpayer dollars. Funds can be used either to implement evidence-based supervision strategies or to innovate new strategies to improve outcomes for supervisees.

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. This data-driven approach enables jurisdictions to understand the full nature and extent of the crime challenges they are facing and to target resources to the highest priorities. The Smart Suite of programs, which includes the Smart Supervision Program, represents a strategic approach that brings more “science” into criminal justice operations by leveraging innovative applications of analysis, technology, and evidence-based practices with the goal of improving performance and effectiveness while containing costs.

The goals of this program are to develop and test innovative strategies to implement evidence-based probation and parole approaches that improve supervision success rates, thereby increasing community safety, and reduce violent and other crime by effectively addressing individuals’ risk and needs and reducing recidivism.

The grantee will utilize award funds to implement a program that includes comprehensive case management and treatment services to individuals booked into the jail for probation technical violations. The program goals are to reduce jail stays, length of stays and overall recidivism. The program is an extension of a pilot and has been a cooperative effort between the St. Louis County Justice Center, Missouri Probation and Parole, 21st Judicial Circuit Court, and the St. Louis County Prosecutors Office. The target population is 185 high and medium risk individuals (137 men and 48 women) per year, for a total of 555 individuals served through this program over the span of three years.

CA/NCF