Multi-site Evaluation of the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative - Phase II

The objective of this project is to assess the impact of the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI). The applicant (in partnership with Urban Institute) proposes to design and implement a rigorous, multidisciplinary evaluation including (1) a 1-year implementation assessment and design, which will generate programmatic data on all 68 sites; (2) a 4-year impact assessment, which will compare key outcomes between offenders who do and do not receive reentry services in 19 selected programs; and (3) a cost-benefit analysis, which will determine the additional expenditures and resources required to operate a reentry program and what returns are on this investment. The specific research questions are designed to determine the extent to which the initiative leads to more coordinated planning and integrated services among partner agencies; reentry participants receive more individualized and comprehensive services than comparison subjects; reentry participants demonstrate better outcomes than comparison subjects; and the benefits derived from reentry programs exceed the costs. The Phase I and II evaluation proposes to use several measurement strategies, including web-based data collection to generate programmatic data throughout the study (68 sites); annual key staff interviews with program and agency representatives (19 sites); annual site visits (19 sites); offender interviews conducted at 1, 3, 9, and 15 months post-release (19 sites); and administrative data from service providers and criminal justice agencies (19 sites). The dissemination strategy will involve significant collaboration with policymakers and practitioners and will generate several topical reports, including a National Portrait of the SVOR Initiative and a comprehensive Evaluation Design Report.