The impact of the Reentry and Sanction Center on recidivism

The study examined the rate of recidivism of offenders released from incarceration from federal correctional institutions and a jail in a major metropolitan East Coast city. It compared and contrasted the rate of recidivism of offenders released directly into the community with those released through an offshoot (the Center) of the study's agency (the Agency) for the major metropolitan East Coast city. The study was interested in the increased recidivism rate and the steadily increasing number of offenders released back into the community with little or none of the attributes, services and resources necessary for successful readjustment to prosocial community life: education, job skills, social skills, housing, and abstinence from illicit drugs. This investigation focused on three specific categories of offenders: (a) those released from incarceration through the Center and (b) two groups released directly into the community: Group 1 was released to the community prior to the inception of the Center, and Group 2 was released to the community after the inception of the Center. The investigation determined whether the Center had a significant effect on the recidivism rate of offenders; more specifically, it ascertained whether offenders entering the Center have a lower recidivism rate than offenders that were released directly into the community. The findings in this study showed using the logistics and regression model that offenders who completed the Center program would have an increased reduction in the rate of supervision revocations and incarceration than offenders released directly to the community. Furthermore, the Center group has a better chance of completing treatment, having a decrease in drug usage, better supervision compliance, and fewer supervision revocations than the offenders in Groups 1 and 2 who were released directly to the community.