Objectives

Placing low-risk individuals into residential community-based correctional programs often results in minimal or iatrogenic impacts upon recidivism. Contamination through exposure to higher-risk program participants is a mechanism that has been used to explain these effects. This study empirically explores this phenomenon.

Methods

A series of survival models examine data from low-risk paroled people released from a state’s prisons from 2005 to 2011 (n = 3,862) to assess the impact of residential community-based program participation upon recidivism. The daily rate of exposure to higher-risk people while attending programs is modeled for a subset of program participants (n = 202) to assess impacts upon time to failure within 18-months of program completion.

Results

Program participation increased the hazards of failure by approximately 66% for low-risk paroled people. Exposure to higher-risk people did not have significant impacts upon recidivism.

Conclusions

The current study coincides with past work demonstrating that policy makers and practitioners should be mindful of the potential iatrogenic or minimal recidivism effects associated with treating low-risk people through residential community-based programs. The mechanisms by which these effects are produced are in need of further exploration. Particular attention should be paid to whether programs can disrupt pro-social aspects of low-risk peoples’ lives.

中文翻译：

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接受以住宅社区为基础的矫正计划的低风险人群的累犯：风险污染的作用

目标

将低风险个人置于基于住宅社区的矫正计划中通常会对累犯产生最小或医源性影响。通过接触高风险项目参与者造成的污染是一种已被用来解释这些影响的机制。本研究对这一现象进行了实证研究。

方法

一系列生存模型检查了 2005 年至 2011 年从州监狱释放的低风险假释人员 (n = 3,862) 的数据，以评估基于住宅社区的计划参与对累犯的影响。为一部分计划参与者（n = 202）模拟了参加计划时与高风险人群的每日接触率，以评估计划完成后 18 个月内对失败时间的影响。

结果

对于低风险假释人员而言，参与计划会使失败的风险增加约 66%。接触高风险人群对累犯没有显着影响。

结论

目前的研究与过去的工作相吻合，表明政策制定者和从业者应注意与通过基于住宅社区的计划治疗低风险人群相关的潜在医源性或最小累犯影响。产生这些影响的机制需要进一步探索。应特别注意项目是否会破坏低风险人群生活的亲社会方面。