Gary Zajac

Moral Positions and Academic Conduct: Parameters of Tolerance for Ethics Failure

Academia is undergoing intense scrutiny by legislators and the public with respect to its accountability. We examine some common ethical boundaries in academia and opportunities for ethics failure to occur, suggest a typology of ethics failure, and explore the response to ethics failure and its consequences for the academic community.

But Some of Them Don’t Come Back (to Prison!): Resource Deprivation and Thinking Errors as Determinants of Parole Success and Failure

This article reports on a study of the causes and correlates of parole success and failure in Pennsylvania. Surveys, interviews, and focus groups were conducted with parole violators and parole successes. Data were collected on employment, housing, social relations, supervision, and parolees’ responses to parole challenges. The primary correlates of parole failure were found to be antisocial attitudes, poor problem-solving and coping skills, and unrealistic expectations about life after release from prison. Contrary to expectations, this study found little evidence that job acquisition or housing were significant parole challenges. The greatest problem for parolees was managing themselves in a prosocial manner while facing demands from their environment.

PREDICTING RECIDIVISM FOR RELEASED STATE PRISON OFFENDERS: Examining the Influence of Individual and Neighborhood Characteristics and Spatial Contagion on the Likelihood of Reincarceration

We examined the influence of individual and neighborhood characteristics and spatial contagion in predicting reincarceration on a sample of 5,354 released Pennsylvania state prisoners. Independent variables included demographic characteristics, offense type, drug involvement, various neighborhood variables (e.g., concentrated disadvantage, residential mobility), and spatial contagion (i.e., proximity to others who become reincarcerated). Using geographic information systems (GIS) and logistic regression modeling, our results showed that the likelihood of reincarceration was increased with male gender, drug involvement, offense type, and living in areas with high rates of recidivism. Older offenders and those convicted of violent or drug offenses were less likely to be reincarcerated. For violent offenders, drug involvement, age, and spatial contagion were particular risk factors for reincarceration. None of the neighborhood environment variables were associated with increased risk of reincarceration. Reentry programs need to particularly address substance abuse issues of ex-offenders as well as take into consideration their residential locations.

Outcome findings from the HOPE demonstration field experiment

Research Summary More than 1,500 probationers in four sites were randomly assigned to probation as usual (PAU) or to Honest Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE), which is modeled on Hawaiis Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (Hawaii HOPE) program that emphasizes close monitoring; frequent drug testing; and swift, certain, and fair (SCF) sanctioning. It also reserves scarce treatment resources for those most in need. The four sites offered heterogeneity in organizational relationships and populations as well as implementation that was rated very good to excellent—thus, providing a robust test of the HOPE supervision model. Recidivism results suggest that HOPE/SCF supervision was not associated with significant reductions in arrests over PAU with the exception of a reduction in drug-related arrests in one site. There were significant—albeit conflicting—differences in time to revocation, with survival models suggesting shorter times to revocation in two sites and longer times to revocation in one site. Policy Implications HOPE—or the more general SCF approach to community supervision—has been widely praised as an evidence-based practice that reduces substance use, violations, new arrests, and revocations to prison. Substantial reductions in return to prison have been associated with claims of significant cost savings for HOPE/SCF over PAU despite the need for additional resources for warning and violation hearings, drug testing, and warrant service. Results from this recently completed, four-site randomized control trial (RCT) showed that recidivism arrest outcomes were largely similar between those on HOPE/SCF probation and those on PAU and are consistent with findings from the Delaware Decide Your Time (DYT) RCT reported in this issue. No differences in arrests between HOPE and PAU probationers suggest that HOPE can be implemented to provide greater adherence to an idealized probation in which violations are met with a swift (but non-draconian) response without compromising public safety. Nevertheless, the larger numbers of revocations for HOPE probationers in two sites, coupled with the additional expenses for drug testing, warrant service, and so on associated with HOPE, also suggest that overall cost savings may not be realized. Although additional research is needed to determine whether there are groups for whom HOPE may be more effective than PAU, HOPE/SCF seems unlikely to offer better outcomes and lower costs for broad classes of moderate-to-high–risk probationers.

A Census of Prison-Based Drug Treatment Programs: Implications for Programming, Policy, and Evaluation

Despite a growing realization that unmeasured programmatic differences influence prison-based drug treatment effectiveness, few attempts to systematically measure such differences have been made. To improve program planning and evaluation in this area, we developed a census instrument to collect descriptive information about 118 prisonbased drug treatment programs in 24 state prisons. The census assessed program content and structure (e.g., program type, duration, and primary treatment approach), program staff (e.g., duties and staffing ratios), and inmates (e.g., eligibility and intake procedures). Collection of descriptive program information can greatly facilitate drug treatment program and policy planning, and meaningfully inform the design of subsequent outcome evaluations.

Toward a Criminology of Inmate Networks

The mid-twentieth century witnessed a surge of American prison ethnographies focused on inmate society and the social structures that guide inmate life. Ironically, this literature virtually froze in the 1980s just as the country entered a period of unprecedented prison expansion, and has only recently begun to thaw. In this manuscript, we develop a rationale for returning inmate society to the forefront of criminological inquiry, and suggest that network science provides an ideal framework for achieving this end. In so doing, we show that a network perspective extends prison ethnographies by allowing quantitative assessment of prison culture and illuminating basic characteristics of prison social structure that are essential for improving inmate safety, health, and community reentry outcomes. We conclude by demonstrating the feasibility and promise of inmate network research with findings from a recent small-scale study of a maximum-security prison work unit.

Effects of Prison Drug Treatment On Inmate Misconduct: A Repeated Measures Analysis

A small body of research supports the “treatment hypothesis” that participation in prison treatment programs reduces inmate misconduct, although methodological weaknesses have limited generalizable conclusions. Using general linear modeling repeated measures techniques, this study examined pre- and posttreatment misconduct for 1,073 inmates who participated in therapeutic community (TC) drug treatment (n = 294) or a comparison group (n = 779) at five state prisons. Predictors included age, length of sentence, drug dependency, and prior and current criminal history. The hypothesis that TC treatment alone would significantly reduce misconduct over time was not supported. Instead, changes in misconduct over time interacted with individual characteristics and time served posttreatment. The article discusses implications of these results for treatment policies and future research.

Building an Effective Research Partnership Between a University and a State Correctional Agency: Assessment of Drug Treatment in Pennsylvania Prisons

The purpose of this project was to develop a collaborative research partnership between Temple University’s Center for Public Policy and the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC), with a demonstration research project that included three main elements: (a) a descriptive assessment of drug and alcohol programming (through program surveys and a 1-day symposium with treatment staff members), including the identification of critical service delivery components and goals; (b) an intensive on-site process evaluation of representative programs at two institutions; and (c) the preparation of an outcome evaluation research design on the basis of analyses and discussion between Temple and the DOC. This article summarizes critical stages in the development of the partnership; reactions from Steering Committee members and drug treatment staff members; results from a survey of 118 drug treatment programs at 24 state prisons; major findings from process evaluation; and implications for drug treatment programming, policy, and evaluation.

Where “Old Heads” Prevail: Inmate Hierarchy in a Men’s Prison Unit

Research on inmate social order, a once-vibrant area, receded just as U.S. incarceration rates climbed and the country’s carceral contexts dramatically changed. This study returns to inmate society with an abductive mixed-methods investigation of informal status within a contemporary men’s prison unit. We collected narrative and social network data from 133 male inmates housed in a unit of a Pennsylvania medium-security prison. Analyses of inmate narratives suggest that unit “old heads” provide collective goods in the form of mentoring and role modeling that foster a positive and stable peer environment. We test this hypothesis with Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) of peer nomination data. The ERGM results complement the qualitative analysis and suggest that older inmates and inmates who have been on the unit longer are perceived by their peers as powerful and influential. Both analytic strategies point to the maturity of aging and the acquisition of local knowledge as important for attaining informal status in the unit. In summary, this mixed-methods case study extends theoretical insights of classic prison ethnographies, adds quantifiable results capable of future replication, and points to a growing population of older inmates as important for contemporary prison social organization.

Screening and Assessment: An Evidence-Based Process for the Management and Care of Adult Drug-Involved Offenders

Valid and reliable assessment of risk and needs is a cornerstone of evidence-based practices with offenders who use and abuse drugs. They provide the needed clinical information upon which the case planning and services referral and delivery processes observed in criminal justice settings are based. However, recent surveys of nationally representative samples shows critical gaps remain, with many criminal justice programs either forgoing assessment of risks and needs or using instruments that have not be externally validated. To encourage more widespread use of risk and substance abuse instruments that have been shown to be reliable and valid, the current chapter reviews a number instruments within the context of the Risk-Need-Responsivity (R-N-R) model for assessment and services planning. Descriptions of these instruments as well as their reliability and validity when used with offender samples are presented. Discussion focuses on the need to adhere to evidence-based practices and processes when assessing and managing offenders with drug abuse problems.