A Randomized Control Trial of a Targeted High-Risk Offender Program Across Three Jurisdictions

Abstract

This study reviews findings from Project Regional Analytics for the Safety of Our Residents, a modified focused deterrence program operated across three jurisdictions in Massachusetts. Unlike most other evaluations of targeted high-risk offender programs, the impact on individual-level offending is examined. Data from records management systems in three police agencies were extracted and used to create social harm risk scores. The top 150 offenders were selected for inclusion in this study. Subjects were blocked into three groups according to their composite score and then randomly assigned into treatment and control groups. All treatment group offenders were invited to a notification meeting where they decided whether to participate in the program with a police and social worker case management team. The outcome examined in this study is time to a new arraignment. Nonparametric and semiparametric methods detected no significant difference between groups after approximately one year. Implications for future research and practice are then discussed.