Probation Officer Perceptions in Federal Reentry Courts

There have been limited studies assessing effectiveness of federal reentry courts in terms of reduced recidivism, and most have produced mixed results.1 The Federal Judicial Center conducted a process-descriptive study of judge-involved programs in the federal system in 2013 and found inconsistent results on rates of recidivism (Meierhoefer & Breen, 2013; Vance, 2011; Vance, 2017). Federal District Court Judge Timothy Degiusti argues for greater inquiry into the perceptions of court stakeholders rather than the predominant focus on participant outcomes (2018). Because of the emphasis on the RiskNeed-Responsivity (RNR) model in federal probation, we hypothesized that RNR principles would be more highly endorsed in the reentry courts than the values-based principles associated with the Good Lives Model (GLM) (see Table 1). [...]we anticipated that a focus on participant retention would be positively correlated with a focus on successful completion of the program.