Evaluation of Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention FY 2003 Discretionary Funds Projects

Development Services Group, Inc. (DSG) will evaluate the LIFESKILLS and Early Intervention Prostitution Program (EIPP) operated by the SAGE Project, Inc. These programs operate on the assumption that girls and women involved in prostitution should be treated as victims, rather than criminals. They focus on rehabilitation through case management services. The evaluation seeks to examine the circumstances that lead girls and women to become involved in prostitution and the effects of the intervention model. When completed, the evaluation will provide evidence concerning the effectiveness of both programs and provide policymakers with insight regarding an alternative justice system response to prostitution. This research will utilize a combined quantitative'qualitative methodology conducted in three phases. ' Phase I includes qualitative, formative research intended to identify and operationalize specific outcome variables. ' Phase II proposes a quasi-experimental nonequivalent comparison group design to establish a causal relationship between the program and various outcomes, including a return to prostitution, education, employment, stability, and other measures of well-being. ' Phase III includes a range of generative qualitative efforts designed to identify factors that may serve as salient variables for future evaluation, and to develop program logic models. The LIFESKILLS sample will be roughly 68 (45 treatment; 23 comparison) with 50 percent of the girls being Asian and the rest mixed race or African-American. The EIPP sample will yield approximately 129 (84 treatment; 45 comparison) with the majority of the participants being white.