Grant Duwe

The patterns and prevalence of mass murder in twentieth-century America

Even though previous research has not examined mass murder prior to 1965, scholars have asserted that the mid-1960s marked the onset of an unprecedented and ever-growing mass murder wave. Using news accounts and the FBIs Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) as sources of data, this study analyzes 909 mass killings that took place between 1900 and 1999. Although the mid-1960s marked the beginning of a mass murder wave, it was not unprecedented, because mass killings were nearly as common during the 1920s and 1930s. The results also show that familicides, the modal mass murder over the last several decades, were even more prevalent before the 1970s. Moreover, mass killers were older, more suicidal, and less likely to use guns in the first two-thirds of the 20th century. Although some have claimed that workplace massacres represent a new “strain” in mass murder, the findings suggest that the only new type of mass killing that emerged during the 20th century was the drug-related massacre.

Evaluating the Minnesota Comprehensive Offender Reentry Plan (MCORP): Results from a Randomized Experiment

Using a randomized experimental design, this study evaluated the effectiveness of the Minnesota Comprehensive Offender Reentry Plan (MCORP), an offender reentry pilot project implemented in 2008. In an effort to reduce recidivism, MCORP attempted to increase offender access to community services and programming by producing greater case management collaboration between caseworkers in prison and supervision agents in the community. The results showed that MCORP significantly improved employment rates, decreased homelessness, broadened offenders’ systems of social support, and increased the extent to which offenders participated in community support programming (mentoring, restorative justice services, and faith‐based programming). The findings further revealed that MCORP significantly reduced all three types of reoffending (rearrest, reconviction, and new offense reincarcerations) but did not have a significant impact on supervision revocations for technical violations. The evidence suggests that MCORP was effective in decreasing reoffending largely because it increased the extent to which offenders were employed, involved in community support programming, and able to develop systems of social support.

Can Faith-Based Correctional Programs Work? An Outcome Evaluation of the InnerChange Freedom Initiative in Minnesota

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the InnerChange Freedom Initiative (InnerChange), a faith-based prisoner reentry program, by examining recidivism outcomes among 732 offenders released from Minnesota prisons between 2003 and 2009. Results from the Cox regression analyses revealed that participating in InnerChange significantly reduced reoffending (rearrest, reconviction, and new offense reincarceration), although it did not have a significant impact on reincarceration for a technical violation revocation. The findings further suggest that the beneficial recidivism outcomes for InnerChange participants may have been due, in part, to the continuum of mentoring support some offenders received in the institution and the community. The results imply that faith-based correctional programs can reduce recidivism, but only if they apply evidence-based practices that focus on providing a behavioral intervention within a therapeutic community, addressing the criminogenic needs of participants and delivering a continuum of care from the institution to the community. Given that InnerChange relies heavily on volunteers and program costs are privately funded, the program exacts no additional costs to the State of Minnesota. Yet, because InnerChange lowers recidivism, which includes reduced reincarceration and victimization costs, the program may be especially advantageous from a cost-benefit perspective.

The Effects of Prison Visits From Community Volunteers on Offender Recidivism

Research has shown that prison visitation is associated with reduced recidivism. This study analyzes whether visits from community volunteers (CVs)—specifically clergy and mentors—had an impact on recidivism by examining 836 offenders released from Minnesota prisons. The results show that CV visits significantly reduced all three measures of reoffending but had no impact on technical violation revocations. The salutary effect on recidivism grew as the proportion of CV visits to all visits increased. The findings suggest CV visits should be conceptualized as a programming resource to be used with higher risk offenders who lack social support.

Estimating the Benefits of a Faith-Based Correctional Program

A recent outcome evaluation of the InnerChange Freedom Initiative (InnerChange), a faith-based prisoner reentry program that has operated within Minnesotas prison system since 2002, showed the program is effective in lowering recidivism. This study extends research on InnerChange by conducting a cost-benefit analysis of the program. Because InnerChange relies heavily on volunteers and program costs are privately funded, the program exacts no additional costs to the State of Minnesota. As a result, this study focused on estimating the programs benefits by examining recidivism and post-release employment. The findings showed that during its first six years of operation in Minnesota, InnerChange produced an estimated benefit of

Bible College Participation and Prison Misconduct: A Preliminary Analysis

3 million, which amounts to nearly

The Rehabilitative Ideal versus the Criminogenic Reality: The Consequences of Warehousing Prisoners

8,300 per participant. Much of this benefit stems from costs avoided as a result of the programs impact on reoffending.

Religion and Misconduct in “Angola” Prison: Conversion, Congregational Participation, Religiosity, and Self-Identities*

We analyzed whether a Bible college program had an impact on prison misconduct by examining 230 offenders in the Texas prison system. Findings suggest participation in the Bible college significantly improved offender behavior, reducing misconduct by one discipline conviction per participant. The results also showed that participation significantly decreased the risk of incurring a discipline conviction, lowering it by 65 percent for minor misconduct, 80 percent for major misconduct, and 68 percent for any misconduct. The findings are consistent with existing research, which has generally found that participation in prison-based programming, including educational and faith-based programs, produces better misconduct outcomes.

Effects of Automating Recidivism Risk Assessment on Reliability, Predictive Validity, and Return on Investment (ROI)

ABSTRACT Using data on more than 55,000 offenders released from Minnesota prisons, we examine whether criminogenic effects arising from imprisonment may stem from a lack of institutional programming. We also evaluate the impact of participation in multiple correctional interventions on recidivism. The results show 31 percent of the Minnesota prisoners were warehoused, which significantly increased the odds of recidivism by 13 percent. Participation in at least one successful recidivism-reduction intervention lowered the odds of recidivism by 12 percent, while involvement in two effective programs decreased it by 26 percent. We conclude by discussing the implications of warehousing, which was more likely to occur for prisoners with brief stays in prison who were admitted as probation or parole violators.

“First Stop Dying” Angola’s Christian Seminary as Positive Criminology

Prior research tends to find an inverse relationship between inmates’ religion and misconduct in prison, but this relationship has lacked empirical explanation. We therefore propose the religion-misconduct relationship is mediated by inmates’ identity transformation on existential, cognitive, and emotional dimensions. To test the mediation, we conducted a survey of inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary (a.k.a. “Angola”). Controlling for inmates’ sociodemographic and criminal backgrounds, we estimated a latent-variable structural equation model of disciplinary convictions. Results showed that inmates’ religious conversion and, to a lesser extent, religiosity itself were positively related to existential and cognitive transformations as well as a “crystallization of discontent,” which were in turn associated with two types of emotional transformation in the expected direction. The crystallization of discontent and transformation in negative affect were related to disciplinary convictions as hypothesized, and their mediation of the effects of conversion and religiosity on misconduct were found to be significant.