Beyond Recidivism: Identifying Additional Measures of Success for Special Offenders Programs

Recidivism is often used to measure the success of the criminal justice initiatives. We explore alternate measures of success that were identified for special offenders through the development of program theory. Using content analysis of 50 closed files from the Special Offenders Services program in Lancaster County, PA, we found that most offenders completed the program without re-offending, maintained their medication, participated in counseling, fulfilled their court cost obligations, and had few housing transitions. However, there were differences between parolees and probationers in terms of their outcomes. We recommend that special offender programs use uniform data-recording procedures.