View Research by Author - Laura Winterfield

Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/LauraWinterfield

Increasing educational proficiency has shown promise as one strategy for assisting inmates in finding gainful employment after release and ending their involvement with the criminal justice system. This report examines the effect of prison-based postsecondary education (PSE) on offenders both while incarcerated and after release. In three states, prisoners who participated in PSE were less likely to recidivate during the first year after release.

In 2007, the Urban Institute convened two meetings with national experts on the topic of community supervision. The goal of these meetings was to articulate participants' collective best thinking on parole and probation, violation and revocation practices, and what contributes to effective community supervision. Over the course of these meetings, participants identified the supervision policies and strategies that would help policy makers and practitioners improve public safety and make the best use of taxpayers' dollars. The 13 strategies outlined in this brief are the result of these discussions and a review of the research literature.

In 2007, the Urban Institute convened two meetings with national experts on the topic of parole supervision. The goal of the meetings was to articulate participants' collective best thinking on parole supervision, violation, and revocation practices and to identify policies and strategies that would help policymakers and practitioners improve public safety and make the best use of taxpayer dollars. This paper, the result of those meetings and a review of the research literature, describes 13 key strategies to enhance reentry outcomes along with examples from the field. A companion Brief, published by Pew Charitable Trusts, is available at http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=411800.

The Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) supports innovative reentry programs at the state and community level. Because fully implemented SVORI programs incorporate assessment, services, and programming for offenders while incarcerated, under supervision in the community, and once released from supervision, measuring their success is a challenge for researchers. In this paper, published in the August 2006 issue of Western Criminology Review, researchers from RTI International and the Urban Institute suggest an approach for categorizing the types of services being provided to program participants so that the extent to which SVORI programs have increased access to services can be determined.

Funded by the Departments of Justice, Labor, Education, Housing and Urban Development, and Health and Human Services, the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) supports innovative reentry programs at the state and community level. As part of this effort, the National Institute of Justice is funding a five-year evaluation of SVORI programs conducted by RTI International and the Urban Institute. This article, published in the August 2006 issue of the Probation and Pretrial Services System Newsletter, outlines the research questions to be addressed by the evaluation as well as the methodologies employed- implementation assessment, impact evaluation, and cost-benefit analysis.

An ever-increasing number of prisoners need substance abuse treatment, yet state and federal governments continue to cut funding for prison programs. This increased need coupled with reduced service availability leads to the crucial question: Are limited drug treatment resources being targeted to those with the greatest needs? Through an analysis of pre- and post-release data collected from 251 prisoners in Illinois, this research brief examines the degree to which prisoners with self-reported drug problems receive in-prison substance abuse treatment services, and then receive post-release treatment as well. We find minimal evidence of treatment matching and/or continuity of treatment from pre- to post-release. Yet, we also note that the timing of our data collection precedes Illinois's establishment of the Sheridan National Model Drug Prison and Reentry Program in January 2004, which has since become the largest fully dedicated drug treatment prison in the nation. We offer a number of policy and practice suggestions for improving correctional service delivery of substance abuse treatment.

As part of a five-year joint project, RTI International and the Urban Institute have produced National Portrait of SVORI: the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative. Funded by the departments of Justice, Labor, Education, Housing and Urban Development, and Health and Human Services, SVORI provides over $100 million to 69 grantees in all 50 states and the Virgin Islands to develop programming, training, and state-of-the-art reentry strategies at the community level. SVORI programs intend to reduce recidivism and improve employment, housing, and health outcomes for participants. This report outlines SVORI and the planned impact evaluation, and describes each grantee's program.

In 2001, the Urban Institute was commissioned by the District of Columbia Pretrial Services Agency (PSA) to develop a risk assessment instrument to assist its diagnosticians in recommending conditions of pretrial release. The instrument designed by the Urban Institute and described in this report serves two goals: 1) make the development of release recommendations more objective and consistent across defendants and improve the transparency of PSA processes, and 2) improve the accuracy of decision-making based on risk assessment. This instrument should increase public safety, reduce court costs associated with non-appearance, and reduce the number of low-risk defendants whose liberty is restricted.

This report was produced as part of the Strong Science for Strong Practice: Linking Research to Drug Treatment in the Criminal Justice System project, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The project involved collecting and reviewing information on the extent of drug treatment need in correctional settings, how this need is identified and addressed, how the amount and quality of treatment can be improved, and how research can be targeted to assist with the implementation of science-based drug treatment practice. In addition to conducting a comprehensive literature review, the Strong Science for Strong Practice project included interviews with and a meeting of knowledgeable practitioners and researchers. This report provides a summary of the findings from the previous three reports (literature review, interviews, and meeting).

This report was produced as part of the Strong Science for Strong Practice: Linking Research to Drug Treatment in the Criminal Justice System project, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The project involved collecting and reviewing information on the extent of drug treatment need in correctional settings, how this need is identified and addressed, how the amount and quality of treatment can be improved, and how research can be targeted to assist with the implementation of science-based drug treatment practice. In addition to conducting a comprehensive literature review, the Strong Science for Strong Practice project included interviews with and a meeting of knowledgeable practitioners and researchers. This report provides a summary of the comprehensive literature review.

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