Since 2019, Indiana University and the Monroe Circuit Court Probation Department have served as an Action Research Team (ART) to participate in the two projects titled, “Reducing Revocations Challenge” funded by Arnold Ventures and in partnership with the City University of New York Institute for State and Local Governance (CUNY ISLG).
The first project created a deeper understanding of the factors and behaviors that contribute to revoked probations. In turn, this knowledge forms a foundation to advance policy and practice solutions to manage probation populations in a manner that reduces revocations and maximizes supervision success, while protecting public safety.
Monroe County was one of 10 ARTs nationwide that were engaged in researcher-practitioner partnerships to complete an in-depth review of the drivers of probation revocation. Other jurisdictions included: Cook County, Illinois; the city and county of Denver, Colorado; Harris
County, Texas; Niagara County, New York; Pima County, Arizona; Pulaski County, Arkansas; Ramsey County, Minnesota; Santa Cruz County, California; and Spokane County in Washington state.
Reports from the first project include:
(1) This brief shares the core factors shaping Monroe County’s probation violation and revocation trends: CHJR-probation-revocation-brief-062921
(2) This brief proposes bold and ambitious recommendations that hold promise to reduce revocations and enhance supervision success, while protecting public safety. These recommendations are informed by the core factors shaping Monroe County’s probation violation and revocation trends
seen in the previous brief. These strategies are reported here to aid jurisdictions across Indiana and nation that are working to reimagine their probation supervision systems: CHJR-probation-solutions-brief-062921
(3) This full report has all the findings of the multi-year study’s report (48 pages): RRC Executive Report_final.
For the technical analyses and results (200+ page report), please email mirnorth@indiana.edu.
The second project implemented some of the ‘bold and ambitious recommendations’ outlined in the second report, linked above. They included: (1) Increasing fidelity fo best practices in probation including EPICS, Motivational Interviewing, and Case-Planning, (2) Revising the Standard Conditions of Probation to be fewer in number and positive/goal-oriented in content and tone; and (3) Increasing the use of positive incentives including early termination and financial incentives.
Reports from the second project include:
(1) The full report: Indiana Probation Policy Brief
(2) A short summary of the lessons learned: Indiana Probation Policy Brief_Takeaways
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