Measuring Evidence-Based Practices in Probation: Does Timing of Sanctions Impact Probation Termination Statu

Current economic limitations and overcrowded prison populations require community corrections agencies, such as probation and parole departments, to implement evidenced-based practices to modify offender behavior and reduce costs. California's Assembly Bill 109 restructured the landscape of probation and parole in that state to directly deal with excessive prison populations. The focus of this study investigates the evidenced-based principle of applying sanctions in a swift manner. Implementing punishments immediately as a method of decreasing unwanted behavior derives from operant conditioning and the psychological principles of behaviorism.;The current research investigates a sample of probationers under the jurisdiction of the San Diego County Probation Department, who exited probation in the calendar year 2010. Using a binary logistic regression analysis, the study sought to investigate if the amount of time between a probation violation and a sanction improved the predictability of whether an offender was revoked to prison. It was hypothesized that increases in time between a probation violation and a response (sanction) by the probation agency would increase the odds of an offender being revoked to prison. Significant results at alpha level .05 suggest that the time between probation violation and agency response significantly improves the ability to predict if an offender was revoked to prison. The current study expands on previous research by investigating a general probation population and includes the first known research empirically measuring the temporal relationship between probation violations and punishments.