ABSTRACT
Probation is the most common form of criminal justice supervision in the United States. Although common, relatively little is known about the experience of probation at the individual level. Complete time series data for where probation was experienced (in the community, in residential drug treatment, in jail, or in prison) and when arrests and probation violations occurred were collected for more than 1,500 individuals in four states who were part of the evaluation of the Honest Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) demonstration field experiment. The data reveal considerable variation in how probation was experienced by individuals in eight distinct groups – four HOPE groups and four probation as usual (PAU) groups – with, for example, substantial differences in jail time or treatment time. There was also considerable variation in the characteristics of the probationers across the sites, particularly with respect to prior criminal histories. Despite these differences, recidivism outcomes were not only similar between groups within sites but were largely similar across sites – with roughly half of all groups experiencing either revocation or new arrest during follow-up.
