Natalie Kroovand Hipple

Family Group Conferencing and Re‐Offending Among First‐Time Juvenile Offenders: The Indianapolis Experiment

Restorative justice processes, and family group conferences in particular, have become increasingly common in justice system practices across the globe. There has also been significant scholarly interest. Yet, with several notable exceptions, much of the research has been characterized by relatively weak designs, and questions related to the impact of family group conferences on re‐offending remain unanswered. This research is intended to begin to address these issues. The study is based on an experiment conducted in Indianapolis, Indiana whereby young, first‐time‐offending youths were randomly assigned to either a family group conference or one of a number of court‐ordered diversion programs. Nearly 800 youths participated in the experiment, and the cases were tracked for 24 months following their initial arrest. Survival analysis techniques were used to compare prevalence patterns of re‐offending among the treatment and control groups. The results indicated a significant difference between the two groups with the control group experiencing higher rates of failure (re‐offending). The differences were most pronounced during the period of 3–8 months following the initial arrest. Incidence rates were also compared. Assignment to the treatment group was negatively related to incidence of offending. Given the consistent finding of victim benefits in restorative justice processes, the results suggest that conferences hold promise as an effective intervention, at least for young first‐time offenders, and warrant continued experimentation.

The new criminal justice : American communities and the changing world of crime control

Section 1: The Changing World of Criminal Justice 1. The New Criminal Justice 2. Modeling the New Criminal Justice 3. Strategic Problem Solving in Criminal Justice Section 2: The New Criminal Justice in Practice 4. Building Successful Partnerships - Lessons from the Strategic Approaches to 5. Project Exile Gun Crime Reduction 6. Strategic Problem Solving Gun Crime Reduction 7. Identifying Effective Policing Strategies for Reducing Crime 8. The Drug Market Initiative in Rockford, Illinois Section 3: New Knowledge for New Practice in Criminal Justice 9. Action Research for Crime Control and Prevention 10. Added Value through a Partnership Model of Action Research 11. The Participation of Academics in the Criminal Justice Working Group Process 12. Collaborations between Police and Research/Academic Organizations. Some Prescriptions from the Field 13. The Challenge of Timeliness and Utility in Research and Evaluation Section 4: Some Final Thoughts on the New Criminal Justice 14. Accumulating Lessons from Project Safe Neighborhoods 15. Post Script. Teaching the New Criminal Justice

Restorativeness, Procedural Justice, and Defiance as Predictors of Reoffending of Participants in Family Group Conferences

Prior research has suggested that family group conferences (FGCs), a particular form of restorative justice, hold promise in reducing reoffending among youths, at least for some types of offenses. Most prior research, however, has simply assessed whether participation in a FGC resulted in reduced rates of reoffending compared with control or comparison groups in court or diversion programs. These prior recidivism studies have largely left unaddressed the characteristics of the FGCs that may produce differences in reoffending. The exceptions are two studies, from New Zealand and Australia, respectively, that relied on variation analyses to assess whether differences in the FGC processes affected future offending. This research builds on these two studies and tests as to whether FGC characteristics derived from reintegrative shaming, procedural justice, and defiance theory account for variations in reoffending. The data have been obtained from a sample of youths (N = 215) who participated in a FGC as part of the Indianapolis Juvenile Restorative Justice Experiment (IJRJE). The findings suggest that the more the FGC appeared to follow principles of restorativeness and procedural fairness and avoided defiance, the less reoffending occurred. Specifically, offense type and conference restorativeness influenced the probability of recidivism at 6 months, whereas offense type and race influenced the probability of recidivism at 24 months.

The new criminal justice

Section 1: The Changing World of Criminal Justice 1. The New Criminal Justice 2. Modeling the New Criminal Justice 3. Strategic Problem Solving in Criminal Justice Section 2: The New Criminal Justice in Practice 4. Building Successful Partnerships - Lessons from the Strategic Approaches to 5. Project Exile Gun Crime Reduction 6. Strategic Problem Solving Gun Crime Reduction 7. Identifying Effective Policing Strategies for Reducing Crime 8. The Drug Market Initiative in Rockford, Illinois Section 3: New Knowledge for New Practice in Criminal Justice 9. Action Research for Crime Control and Prevention 10. Added Value through a Partnership Model of Action Research 11. The Participation of Academics in the Criminal Justice Working Group Process 12. Collaborations between Police and Research/Academic Organizations. Some Prescriptions from the Field 13. The Challenge of Timeliness and Utility in Research and Evaluation Section 4: Some Final Thoughts on the New Criminal Justice 14. Accumulating Lessons from Project Safe Neighborhoods 15. Post Script. Teaching the New Criminal Justice

Comparing police- and civilian-run family group conferences

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare family group conferences (FGCs) facilitated by police officers with those facilitated by a civilian along several dimensions including process, reparation agreements, recidivism, and time until failure.Design/methodology/approach – Using observational data and juvenile histories of offending from the Indianapolis Restorative Justice Project, the authors attempted to answer four research questions: Are family group conferences facilitated by police officers procedurally different from family group conferences facilitated by civilians?; Are reparation agreements resulting from police‐officer‐facilitated conferences different from reparation agreements resulting from civilian‐facilitated conferences?; Did youths who participated in police‐facilitated conferences recidivate at different rates compared with youths who participated in civilian‐facilitated conferences?; Did youths who participated in police‐facilitated conferences have a longer time to failure th...

Community Meetings as a Tool in Inmate Reentry

Like most U.S. urban areas, Marion County (Indianapolis), Indiana, is experiencing increasing numbers of former inmates returning to the community. Concerned with the issue of inmate reentry, Indianapolis criminal justice officials, neighborhood leaders, and service providers decided to hold group meetings with individuals who had been released from prison within the last 60 days to convey a deterrence message coupled with social support. The meetings were patterned after an approach that had been successfully employed with gang members in Boston and Indianapolis. This article has two key goals. The first is to describe the problem-solving approach employed by Indianapolis officials, which involved analysis of inmate reentry and reoffending rates as a way of developing an intervention (community meetings). The second goal is to present evaluation findings on the impact of the meetings. Although there was some evidence of a longer period before rearrest for inmates attending the meetings, the multivariate analyses suggested that the meetings did not have a significant impact on the rate of reoffending. The results should be considered within the context of the relatively low dosage of a single meeting with a group of former inmates with extensive involvement in criminal activity. Although the meetings alone did not prove to have an impact on reoffending, they may prove to be a tool that could be used as part of a broader strategy that includes intervention prior to release from prison and follow-up after the meeting.

Restorativeness, procedural justice, and defiance as long-term predictors of reoffending of participants in family group conferences

This study extends Hipple and colleagues’ variation analysis by examining how varying degrees of restorative justice, procedural justice, and defiance in family group conference (FGC) processes and outcomes affect long-term juvenile recidivism measures in one large Midwestern U.S. city. The current study uses two data sets from the Indianapolis Juvenile Restorative Justice Experiment that include conference observations, juvenile histories, and adult criminal histories to examine how variations in FGC elements shape juvenile recidivism outcomes in a long-term follow-up period. Findings reveal that the greater fidelity of FGCs to the theoretical foundations of restorativeness and procedural justice, the better outcomes in the long term as measured by future offending. Specifically, offense type and conference restorativeness influenced the probability of recidivism in the long term. Results are consistent with the theoretical predictions of reintegrative shaming and procedural justice theories, providing further support that FGCs are a viable youth justice program option.

Identifying Effective Policing Strategies for Reducing Crime

Section 1: The Changing World of Criminal Justice 1. The New Criminal Justice 2. Modeling the New Criminal Justice 3. Strategic Problem Solving in Criminal Justice Section 2: The New Criminal Justice in Practice 4. Building Successful Partnerships - Lessons from the Strategic Approaches to 5. Project Exile Gun Crime Reduction 6. Strategic Problem Solving Gun Crime Reduction 7. Identifying Effective Policing Strategies for Reducing Crime 8. The Drug Market Initiative in Rockford, Illinois Section 3: New Knowledge for New Practice in Criminal Justice 9. Action Research for Crime Control and Prevention 10. Added Value through a Partnership Model of Action Research 11. The Participation of Academics in the Criminal Justice Working Group Process 12. Collaborations between Police and Research/Academic Organizations. Some Prescriptions from the Field 13. The Challenge of Timeliness and Utility in Research and Evaluation Section 4: Some Final Thoughts on the New Criminal Justice 14. Accumulating Lessons from Project Safe Neighborhoods 15. Post Script. Teaching the New Criminal Justice