Recidivism of Low-Risk People That Receive Residential Community-Based Correctional Programs: The Role of Risk Contamination

• Author: Michael Ostermann
• DOI: 10.1177/00224278221078020
• Published date: 01 August 2022
• Date: 01 August 2022
• Subject Matter: Original Research Articles

Recidivism of Low-Risk

People That Receive

Residential Community-

Based Correctional

Programs: The Role

of Risk Contamination

Michael Ostermann

1

Abstract

Objectives: Placing low-risk individuals into residential community-based

correctional programs often results in minimal or iatrogenic impacts upon

recidivism. Contamination through exposure to higher-risk program partici-

pants is a mechanism that has been used to explain these effects. This study

empirically explores this phenomenon. Methods: A series of survival models

examine data from low-risk paroled people released from a state’s prisons

from 2005 to 2011 (n=3,862) to assess the impact of residential commu-

nity-based program participation upon recidivism. The daily rate of exposure

to higher-risk people while attending programs is modeled for a subset of

program participants (n=202) to assess impacts upon time to failu re within

18-months of program completion. Results: Program participation increased

the hazards of failure by approximately 66% for low-risk paroled people.

Exposure to higher-risk people did not have signif‌icant impacts upon

1

School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey, USA

Corresponding Author:

Michael Ostermann, School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University, 123 Washington Street,

Newark, New Jersey, USA.

Email: Michael.Ostermann@rutgers.edu

Original Research Article

Journal of Research in Crime and

Delinquency

2022, Vol. 59(5) 659–695

© The Author(s) 2022

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/00224278221078020

journals.sagepub.com/home/jrc

recidivism. Conclusions: The current study coincides with past work

demonstrating that policy makers and practitioners should be mindful

of the potential iatrogenic or minimal recidivism effects associated with

treating low-risk people through residential community-based pro-

grams. The mechanisms by which these effects are produced are in

need of further exploration. Particular attention should be paid to

whether programs can disrupt pro-social aspects of low-risk peoples’

lives.

Keywords

Recidivism, risk principle, community programs, parole, low-risk

The risk-need-responsivity (RNR) model has become one of the predomi-

nate clinical and managerial tools to guide decision-making in corrections

over the past several decades (Andrews, Bonta, and Wormith 2011).

Serving as a practical application of Andrews and Bonta’s (2006) general

personality and cognitive social learning (GPCSL) theory, RNR establishes

a framework for corrections off‌icials to effectively assign individuals to

appropriate programmatic treatment regimens that align with individual psy-

chological and social needs, with the ultimate goal of improving treatment

and reducing recidivism (Andrews and Bonta 2015; Taxman et al. 2013;

Viglione 2019). RNR approaches include (1) matching levels of

service to an individual’s assessed risk to re-offend, (2) focusing treat-

ment resources on relevant criminogenic needs that directly relate to

offending behaviors and that are amenable to change, and (3) maximizing

the impact of rehabilitative interventions by providing cognitive behavioral

treatments and tailoring programs to the learning styles, motivations, abili-

ties, and strengths of program participants. The GPCSL theory provides sali-

ence to a series of dynamic risk factors most associated with criminal

activities, and offers guidance to treatment providers about appropriate

targets for programmatic intervention. These central eight criminogenic

risk/need factors resultantly form the core of risk and needs assessment

instruments including measures of Antisocial Behavior, Antisocial

Personality Pattern, Pro-criminal Attitudes, Pro-criminal Associates,

Family/Marital circumstances, School/Work, Leisure/Recreation, and

Substance Abuse.

660 Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 59(5)

Within the RNR framework, the risk principle states that the level of

supervision and treatment a criminal justice involved individual receives

should be commensurate with the person’s level of assessed risk to reoffend

(Lowenkamp, Latessa and Holsinger 2006; Wooditch, Tang and Taxman

2014). The highest intensity of treatment regimens should be geared towards

those that exhibit the highest risks for continued criminal conduct, and

people that are assessed as low-risk should receive minimal treatment interven-

tion (Andrews and Dowden 2006; Gendreau, Little, and Goggin 1996).

Implementation science has routinely indicated that the risk principle, and

other principles of effective correctional intervention, remain diff‌icult for com-

munity corrections agencies to effectively put into practice (Miller and Palmer

2020; Viglione, Rudes and Taxman 2015) which can lead to those assessed as

low-risk for recidivating receiving intense and high dosages of treatment inter-

ventions during the course of community supervision (Barnes et al. 2010;

Wakeling, Mann and Carter 2012). Empirical evidence has demonstrated that

intensive programming geared towards low-risk individuals generally leads to

either minimal impacts upon recidivism, or to the production of iatrogenic recid-

ivism effects (Dowden and Andrews 1990a, 1990b, 2000; Gendreau, Little, and

Goggin 1996).

Lowenkamp and Latessa (2004) postulate that correctional programs

increase low-risk individuals’likelihood of failure through two mechanisms.

First, placing low-risk individuals in highly structured restrictive program-

ming may disrupt the factors that make them low-risk in the f‌irst place

and/or the positive opportunities that they may have, such as f‌inding

employment or developing pro-social networks. Second, placing low-risk

individuals in residential community-based correctional interventions

likely exposes them, and requires them to spend time with, higher-risk

people which can, in turn, lead to their being contaminated by enhancing

their anti-social attitudes and beliefs. These reasons are often used to

explain iatrogenic recidivism effects within the corrections and program

evaluation literatures (see Andrews and Dowden, 2006; Boyle et al. 2013;

Healy, 2013; Latessa et al. 2010; Lowenkamp, Latessa and Holsinger

2006) likely because they make intuitive sense and are supported by relevant

theoretical foundations. However, they have received little direct scientif‌ic

inquiry using community corrections samples.

The present study attempts to address part of this gap in our knowledge

base by empirically exploring the impacts of risk contamination upon recid-

ivism for low-risk people that receive correctional treatment through resi-

dential community-based programs. The goals of the study are to: (1)

demonstrate whether program participation impacts recidivism for

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