All Implementation Is Local

• Date: 01 November 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12264
• Published date: 01 November 2016
• Author: Angela Hawken

COMMENTARY

HOPE COLLECTION

All Implementation Is Local

Angela Hawken

New York University

We expect that responses to the Demonstration Field Experiment (DFE) results

(Lattimore et al., 2016, this issue) based on Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation

with Enforcement or HOPE strategy will mostly fall into three categories:

celebrators, disappointed, and intrigued.

The Celebrators

From its inception, many were unenthusiastic about HOPE. To be fair, several of us who

were involved with assessing early implementation were similarly skeptical, especially those

of us who prefer a public-health approach to substance-use disorders. But the manner in

which Judge Steven Alm engaged the probationers who came before him in his courtroom

demonstrated his interest in improving their futures. There was an atmosphere of goodwill

in his court, in the probation office, and even at the jail. HOPE seemed worth exploring

further, especially in light of positive evaluation findings produced by the research division

at the Hawaii Office of the Attorney General. Our first evaluation confirmed those find-

ings: Compared with those on probation as usual, probationers who had been assigned to

HOPE had fewer new arrests, missed appointments, and positive urines, and they were less

likely to be revoked and returned to prison. The reduction in revocations was especially

important as the probationers included in the study were facing long open terms (up to

20 years).

Despite criticisms that there was little to justify considering HOPE as a promising

program (see Duriez, Cullen, and Manchak, 2014), several studies indicated that the ap-

proach was promising (by any reasonable standard). Judge Alm did not invent the notion

of swift, certain, and proportionate sanctions, nor was he the first to attempt to implement

a program that embodies those principles. In the same year as Judge Alm implemented

HOPE, a similar approach was being implemented in Texas. The Special Sanctions Court

(SSC) in Fort Bend County was launched at the same time as—and with no prior awareness

Direct correspondence to Angela Hawken, New York University, 60 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10011 (e-mail:

ahawken@nyu.edu).

DOI:10.1111/1745-9133.12264 C2016 American Society of Criminology 1229

Criminology & Public Policy rVolume 15 rIssue 4