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The Effects of Sanction Intensity on Criminal Conduct - JDAI Helpdesk

The Effects of Sanction Intensity on Criminal Conduct - JDAI Helpdesk

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up in unpublished reports than those in academic articles. This <strong>on</strong>ly enables us to say<br />

that our findings account for potential publicati<strong>on</strong> bias.<br />

We do not believe that our results should be taken as c<strong>on</strong>clusive evidence that<br />

intensive probati<strong>on</strong> supervisi<strong>on</strong> is a failed interventi<strong>on</strong>. <str<strong>on</strong>g>The</str<strong>on</strong>g>re is clearly a great deal <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

variati<strong>on</strong> in the types <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> programs studied that we could not capture with our limited set<br />

<str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> moderator variables. While the comm<strong>on</strong> comp<strong>on</strong>ents we were able to identify do not<br />

appear to have any great effect <strong>on</strong> recidivism, there are many more that we could not<br />

compare. Although we were able to include more rigorous studies in our meta-analysis<br />

than many other systematic reviews in the social sciences, there are so many variati<strong>on</strong>s<br />

<strong>on</strong> the ISP theme that many more studies including the same comp<strong>on</strong>ents would be<br />

needed to draw any meaningful c<strong>on</strong>clusi<strong>on</strong>s.<br />

ISP effects may also be particularly<br />

sensitive to implementati<strong>on</strong> issues.<br />

All experimental programs may suffer from<br />

inadequate or problematic implementati<strong>on</strong> in the field, but ISP may be especially<br />

susceptible because it involves changing the practices <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> an extant agency. Even research<br />

funding (which may be limited compared with the general operating costs <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> a probati<strong>on</strong><br />

agency) might not be sufficient to enable <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g>ficers to reach caseload or c<strong>on</strong>tact targets, or<br />

know what to do when they get there. Indeed, some studies we reviewed did include the<br />

actual as well as intended caseload sizes and c<strong>on</strong>tact frequencies. <str<strong>on</strong>g>The</str<strong>on</strong>g>y usually showed<br />

that caseloads were generally slightly larger and c<strong>on</strong>tacts less frequent in reality than the<br />

numbers called for in the evaluati<strong>on</strong> design, although it should be added that the planned<br />

ratios <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> intensity between the treatment and c<strong>on</strong>trol groups were <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g>ten similar because<br />

agencies also found it difficult to meet the c<strong>on</strong>tact and caseload size standards they set for<br />

regular probati<strong>on</strong>.<br />

38

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