News  UPENN Study reveals an up to 36 percent decrease in recidivism among probationers at the Massachusetts Probation Service’s Community Justice Support Centers

A recent study of the Massachusetts Probation Service (MPS)’s Community Justice Support Centers (CJSC’s), conducted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Crime and Justice Policy (CJP) Lab, shows that an added emphasis in evidence-based practices such as cognitive behavioral therapy, fidelity monitoring, and performance measurement— have been successful in dramatically reducing recidivism rates by up to 36 percent among probationers who attend the centers. This success was measured by the reduction in arraignments for clients within one year of them being referred or sentenced to an CJSC.  

UPENN’s CJP Lab bases its findings on three separate analysis which demonstrates that improvements in evidence-based practices made by the Office of Community Corrections—an MPS department which manages the 19 CJSC’s across the state—have led to this reduction.

In UPENN’s “Recidivism Analysis Research Brief,” which outlines the findings, the research team concluded: “Given the high social and financial cost of incarceration, CJSC’s are a very promising governmental innovation that could improve the lives of many justice-‘involved individuals.” The CJSC, formerly referred to as Community Corrections Centers, began revising its programming to emphasize evidence-based practices in 2016.

“These results validate a lot of hard work by our managers, community partners, and CJSC staff. I am also thankful to organizations like UMASS Chan Medical School, New England Addiction Technology Transfer Center at Brown University, and Results First at the Pew-McArthur Trusts for their guidance as we refocused on executing evidence-based interventions. I am hopeful that we will see continued data to support our work and that will lead to continued utilization of community-based, intensive supervision approaches instead of prison and jail,” said Director of Community Correction Vincent Lorenti.

As part of the methodology, UPENN’s CJP worked to “identify the casual effect of clients’ participation on recidivism in the CJSC’s modern program design.” UPENN researchers selected data from 2018 with a look at one-year outcomes. By comparison, the research team reviewed data from 2013 which was prior to the enhancements OCC made in evidence-based practices. The team also used “observational data on probationers who attended the CJSC’s.” The team developed a matched dataset of probationers who did not attend the CJSC’s; but, had similar risk/need levels in 2013 and 2018, according to the research brief. Researchers used “multiple analysis techniques” such as Mahalanobis distance matching (MDM), propensity score matching (PSM), and multivariate regression.

Researchers stated, “This finding was consistent with the overall research hypothesis and supports the principle that program monitoring and implementation with fidelity to EBP produces better outcomes for participants.”

The CJSC’s offer a dozen or more different programs that address substance use disorder, connections to the community, career opportunities, decision making skills, and educational training, according to Mr. Lorenti. The programming is centered on cognitive-behavioral therapy and probationers are assigned individualized programming based on an risk/need assessment.