The Impact of a Community Supervision Officer Training Program on Client Outcomes: A Propensity Score Modeling Analysis by Officer Training Dosage

• Date: 01 March 2021
• Author: Ryan M. Labrecque,Jill Viglione
• DOI: 10.1177/0093854820980788
• Published date: 01 March 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2021, Vol. 48, No. 3, March 2021, 315 –331.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854820980788

Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions

© 2020 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

315

THE IMPACT OF A COMMUNITY SUPERVISION

OFFICER TRAINING PROGRAM ON CLIENT

OUTCOMES

A Propensity Score Modeling Analysis by Officer

Training Dosage

RYAN M. LABRECQUE

JILL VIGLIONE

University of Central Florida

A growing body of research indicates officer training in correctional supervision programs is associated with improved use

of evidence-based practices and lower rates of client recidivism. This scholarship also suggests larger reductions in recidi-

vism can be achieved when officers implement program skills with higher quality. Despite their potential, research has shown

standard training regiments alone are not sufficient in making all participants proficient users of skills. There is a need to

determine what intensity of training produces the best results. In response, this study assessed the impact of federal probation

officer training dosage in the Staff Training Aimed at Reducing Re-arrest (STARR) program on the outcomes of their clients.

The results indicated clients of STARR-trained officers had fewer probation revocations and new arrests but more technical

violations and positive drug tests. We also found clients supervised by officers with more versus less exposure to the STARR

model had better outcomes.

Keywords: community supervision; correctional training programs; officer training; probation; STARR

On any given day, there are approximately 4.4 million adults supervised on probation or

parole in the United States (Kaeble & Alper, 2020). This equates to roughly one in

every 58 adults or about 1.7% of the total U.S. adult population. Despite this high number,

research finds traditional community supervision practices are ineffective at reducing recid-

ivism (Bonta et al., 2008; Paparozzi & Gendreau, 2005; Solomon, 2006). At the same time,

there is mounting evidence to suggest that correctional services in alignment with the

AUTHORS’ NOTE: This study was funded by the United States Probation Office Middle District of Florida.

We would like to thank the many dedicated staff at the Middle District of Florida who provided assistance in

making this research possible. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ryan M.

Labrecque, University of Central Florida, 12805 Pegasus Drive, Orlando, FL 32816-1600; e-mail: ryan.

labrecque@ucf.edu.

980788CJBXXX10.1177/0093854820980788Criminal Justice and BehaviorLabrecque, Viglione / Impact of Officer Training on Client Outcomes 1

research-article2020

316 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR

principles of effective intervention are the most effective strategies for improving client

behavior (Andrews et al., 1990; Bonta & Andrews, 2017; Cullen & Gendreau, 2000;

Gendreau, 1996; Smith et al., 2009). It is only in the last decade, however, that formalized

efforts have been undertaken to incorporate these principles into the everyday supervision

practices of probation and probation officers (Bourgon et al., 2012; Clodfelter et al., 2016;

Gleicher et al., 2013; Lowenkamp, Alexander et al., 2014; Rugge & Bonta, 2014; Toronjo

& Taxman, 2018). While the empirical evidence indicates that officer training in these prin-

ciples is associated with lower rates of client recidivism (Chadwick et al., 2015), the spe-

cific intensity of training necessary to produce the best outcomes remains unknown.

This study sought to address this gap in knowledge by examining the impact of officer

training dosage in the principles of effective intervention on the supervision outcomes of

their clients. Drawing on the prior literature, we hypothesized that clients supervised by

officers trained in the Staff Training Aimed at Reducing Re-arrest (STARR) program would

have lower rates of recidivism compared to those monitored by staff not trained in the

model. We further anticipated that the magnitude of this effect would be more pronounced

among the clients of the officers who received more versus less-intense training exposure to

the STARR model. To test these hypotheses, we collected and analyzed officer and client

data from a federal probation district in Florida. We begin with a review of the theory and

prior research that guided the formulation of our hypotheses. We then describe our data and

analytical plan, present the study’s findings, and discuss the policy and research implica-

tions of this work.

PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE INTERVENTION

Based on the General Personality and Cognitive Social Learning (GPCSL) perspective

of criminal conduct, the principles of effective intervention have become the dominant

model of correctional rehabilitation (Bonta & Andrews, 2017). There are 15 general, clini-

cal, and organizational principles that describe best practices in correctional assessment and

intervention. At its core, the GPCSL involves the three treatment principles of risk, need,

and responsivity. The risk principle asserts that criminal behavior is predictable and further

suggests that more-intensive services should be reserved for higher risk individuals. The

need principle emphasizes that dynamic crime-producing risk factors, or criminogenic

needs, should be the primary focus of all correctional interventions (e.g., antisocial person-

ality pattern, procriminal attitudes, and procriminal associates). The responsivity principle

indicates that treatment services should be cognitive-behavioral in nature and further deliv-

ered in a manner that is tailored to meet the specific learning style, motivation, abilities, and

strengths of each client (Bonta & Andrews, 2017).

There has been strong empirical evidence reported in the literature to support the prin-

ciples of effective intervention. In 1990, Andrews and colleagues meta-analyzed 154 cor-

rectional treatment comparisons and found support for the principles of risk, need, and

responsivity. This database has since been expanded to include 374 comparisons and the

findings indicated that adherence to all three principles reduces recidivism by 26%,

whereas failure to adhere to any of the treatment principles increases recidivism by 2%

(Bonta & Andrews, 2017). Collectively, there have now been more than 100 meta-analy-

ses conducted on the correctional treatment literature, and these results have been repli-

cated with remarkable consistency (Lipsey & Cullen, 2007; MacKenzie, 2006; McGuire,

2013; Smith et al., 2009).