Jennifer L. Lux

Measuring Drug Court Adherence to the What Works Literature The Creation of the Evidence-Based Correctional Program Checklist–Drug Court

Quality correctional programming is important, particularly for drug courts. In this article, we chronicle the development of a tool designed to evaluate juvenile and adult drug courts, the Evidence-Based Correctional Program Checklist–Drug Court (CPC-DC). The history of the CPC-DC is traced by exploring research that indicates why program evaluation is important. This article also discusses the development of two predecessor assessment tools designed to measure how closely correctional programs adhere to evidence-based practice, the Correctional Program Assessment Inventory (CPAI) and the Evidence-Based Correctional Program Checklist (CPC). Results are briefly presented on the outcomes of the CPC-DC assessments completed to date by the University of Cincinnati (UC). Finally, recommendations are offered for operating an evidence-based drug court.

Downsizing Juvenile Institutions in Ohio: Five Innovations

Abstract Over the past 15 years, Ohio’s juvenile justice system has undergone important reforms that have led to a significant decline in the number of youthful offenders committed to state correctional facilities. As such, the purpose of this paper is to describe five unique innovations carried out across the state that have led to the downsizing of juvenile confinement in Ohio. These innovations include (1) the creation of Community Corrections Facilities; (2) RECLAIM Ohio; (3) the Ohio Youth Assessment System; (4) Targeted RECLAIM; and (5) the Behavioral Health/Juvenile Justice Initiative. Lessons learned from these efforts will be identified and discussed.

Validating the Ohio Risk Assessment System Community Supervision Tool with a Diverse Sample from Texas

ABSTRACT The use of risk assessment to assist in determine the criminogenic needs of an offender has become accepted practice in the field of corrections. While many agencies continue to use off-the-shelf assessments and forgo local validation and norming of the instrument, a body of literature has begun to emerge suggesting that fourth generation tools, while robust in nature, are susceptible to threats to validity when applied to new populations. The results from this study support this growing body of literature and suggest that it is important to validate and norm and instrument on the local population. Specifically, this study examined the Ohio Risk Assessment System-Community Supervision Tool and the applicability to a Texas population. While the Ohio version of the ORAS was still predictive of reoffending for the Texas population, adjustments made to the instrument for Texas specific legal factors as well as addressing sociopolitical differences in the two states provided for a significantly stronger instrument. Moreover, this study found that the revalidation of the ORAS provided a valid measure of risk based on gender, race, and ethnicity differences in the two populations. In light of these findings, the article provides several suggestions to influence both practice and policy moving forward regarding the adoption of risk assessment instruments.

Saved, Salvaged, or Sunk A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Faith-Based Interventions on Inmate Adjustment

Following the recent economic downturn, the religious roots of American corrections have begun to repopularize. While faith-based correctional interventions are common, there is very little known about their effectiveness with offender populations. Drawn from 15 studies, 57 effect sizes were calculated to estimate the average impact of religious prison programming on inmate attitudes and disciplinary infractions. Producing a weighted mean effect size of −.23 (g = −0.45 for attitudinal adjustments, g = −0.15 for institutional misconduct), the results indicate that religious interventions produce a modest but significant alteration to offender values and behaviors.