Evaluation of Our Efforts

The effectiveness of the Knoxville Public Safety Collaborative (KPSC) has been evaluated by the University of Tennessee's College of Social Work, Office of Research and Public Service. The evaluation covers the 30-month period from September 1998 through February 2001. During this time, 265 offenders were included in the KPSC's target population and received a combination of sanctions, supervision, and services from community correctional officers, police, and health and human service providers in Knoxville. This group of offenders was composed of parolees who scored in the high-risk, high-needs category on the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole's risk/needs assessment instrument. A comparison group, composed of parolees released to the City of Knoxville in 1997 and 1997 who would have met KPSC's target population criteria had the initiative existed at that time, was constructed for program comparison purposes.

Recidivism has been used as the principal outcome measure for this evaluation. In this case, recidivism has been defined as re-incarcerations for new changes (either misdemeanor or felony) or for technical violations of community supervision orders (e.g., absconding, positive drug screens, chronic failure to comply with the conditions of community supervision orders). Preliminary evaluation results indicate the following outcomes (as of February 2001):

• Approximately 45% in KPSC's target population had their paroles revoked as compared to nearly 83% in the control group. This represents a 38% difference in the recidivism rate of KPSC's target population versus that of the comparison group.

  
  

• 13% of those who recidivated were reincarcerated for new crimes as compared to 22% in the comparison group. This represents a difference of in 9% in the recidivism rate of KPSC's target population for new crimes versus that of the comparison group.

  
  

• 89% of the entire comparison group were reincarcerated within two years of their release from prison as compared to 45% of those in KPSC's target population - an improvement of 44%.

  
  

• 29% out of the total number of offenders in the KPSC's target group were successfully discharged from parole supervision versus 11% in the comparison group. This represents an increase in the success rate of KPSC's target population of 18%.