Tolerance of Minor Setbacks in a Challenging Reentry Experience: An Evaluation of a Federal Reentry Court

The Federal Probation Office and the Board of Judges for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania initiated a pilot reentry court program, called the Supervision to Aid Reentry (STAR) program in 2007. The impact evaluation used a quasi-experimental research design to compare the reentry success of the first 60 STAR participants to a matched comparison group of 60 probationers in the 18 months postrelease. While logistic regression results indicated that STAR participants were no less likely to be arrested than the comparison group, STAR participation was associated with a significant reduction in the likelihood of supervision revocation. With insight from a previous process evaluation of the STAR program, implications of these findings for the STAR program and other reentry programs are discussed

Recent Victimization & Recidivism: The Potential Moderating Effects of Family Support

Although various research confirms an overlap between victims and offenders, much less is known about victimization and recidivism. Using data from the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative evaluation, this study measures the extent to which the frequency of recent victimization influences recidivism in the 15 months following release from prison. Buffering effects are also investigated by examining whether family support moderates the relationship between victimization and recidivism. After controlling for other known predictors of recidivism, logistic regression models using both listwise deletion and multiple imputation reveal that more frequent victimization significantly increases the likelihood of any self-reported recidivism and has a particularly large effect on violent recidivism for those previously convicted of serious and violent offenses. Even at higher levels of family support, victimization still increases the likelihood of reoffending

Program Evaluation of the Federal Reentry Court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania: Report on Program Effectiveness for the First 265 Reentry Court Participants

This report describes the latest evaluation of the Supervision to Aid Reentry (STAR) program (hereafter referred to as Reentry Court). The success of the Reentry Court is assessed by comparing the first 265 Reentry Court participants to a group of similarly situated individuals under supervised release. Results indicate that while Reentry Court participation does not appear to influence the likelihood of new arrests, participation is associated with a significant reduction in the likelihood of probation revocations and an increase in the likelihood of employment

Academic Partnerships and Evaluations in Problem-Solving Courts: A Practitioner Resource Guide

This resource guide is intended to assist criminal justice system practitioners who may be interested in measuring the effectiveness of their programs. While the guide is developed specifically in the context of problem-solving courts, much of the resources included are applicable to a wide range of criminal justice and social service programs. Chapter 1 outlines how practitioners can work with either an academic evaluator or partner to conduct an independent, objective evaluation of their programming. Chapter 2 explains the differences between two types of evaluations: process and outcome evaluations. Chapter 3 covers logic models, which are a critical task prior to beginning program evaluation work. Chapter 4 then covers issues related to data collection for an evaluation. Overall, the guide is designed to help justice system practitioners take the necessary steps to begin to discover what aspects of their programming are functioning as intended and which aspects could use improvement. While the idea of program evaluation can seem intimidating or risky for some programs, the following chapters will help prepare practitioners for a rewarding and valuable evaluation process

Program Evaluation of the Federal Reentry Court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania: Report on Program Effectiveness for the First 164 Reentry Court Participants

This report describes the latest evaluation of the Supervision to Aid Reentry (STAR) program (hereafter referred to as Reentry Court). The success of the Reentry Court is assessed by comparing the first 164 Reentry Court participants to a group of similarly situated individuals under supervised release. Comparisons between the two groups are analyzed in services offered or received, sanctions imposed, employment status, supervision revocation and new arrests in the 18 months following prison release

The Supervision to Aid Reentry (STAR) Program: Enhancing the Social Capital of Ex-Offenders

This article explores a central finding from a process evaluation of a federal reentry court programme entitled the Supervision to Aid Reentry (STAR) programme in Philadelphia, PA, USA. Using inductive and deductive analyses, results revealed that the STAR programme helps participants build social capital by encouraging family involvement as well as the development of relationships among programme participants. Family involvement and relationships among participants were found to offer participants social and emotional support as well as access to felon-friendly employment opportunities

MENTOR Program Evaluation Report

This report details a three year evaluation of the MENTOR (Mentors Empowering to Overcome Recidivism) Program in the Philadelphia court system. MENTOR program participants who are serving county probation sentences are matched with a volunteer mentor from the community, receive case management from MENTOR staff, and attend a monthly status hearing with one of the MENTOR judges. The program evaluation relied on several data sources to assess program effectiveness, including surveys and focus groups with mentees, online monthly reports from mentors, internally collected program data on service referrals, interviews with stakeholders, and official records from Adult Probation and Parole Department (APPD). Findings revealed that program participants have very positive perceptions of the program, participants receive a high quantity and quality of contact with the program, and stakeholders identify both strengths and weaknesses of the program. The bivariate analyses used in the outcome evaluation showed that the program is associated with a significant reduction in probation revocations and a marginally significant reduction in new arrests compared to a similarly situated comparison group. While the numbers suggest that the program is associated with an increase in employment, these results did not reach statistical significance. Multivariate analyses failed to find significant effects of program participation on any of the three outcomes of interest

Compton scattering in strong magnetic fields: Spin-dependent influences at the cyclotron resonance

The quantum electrodynamical (QED) process of Compton scattering in strong magnetic fields is commonly invoked in atmospheric and inner magnetospheric models of x-ray and soft gamma-ray emission in high-field pulsars and magnetars. A major influence of the field is to introduce resonances at the cyclotron frequency and its harmonics, where the incoming photon accesses thresholds for the creation of virtual electrons or positrons in intermediate states with excited Landau levels. At these resonances, the effective cross section typically exceeds the classical Thomson value by over 2 orders of magnitude. Near and above the quantum critical magnetic field of 44.13 TeraGauss, relativistic corrections must be incorporated when computing this cross section. This paper presents formalism for the QED magnetic Compton differential cross section valid for both subcritical and supercritical fields, yet restricted to scattered photons that are below pair creation threshold. Calculations are developed for the particular case of photons initially propagating along the field, mathematically simple specializations that are germane to interactions involving relativistic electrons frequently found in neutron star magnetospheres. This exposition of relativistic, quantum, magnetic Compton cross sections treats electron spin dependence fully, since this is a critical feature for describing the finite decay lifetimes of the intermediate states. The formalism employs both the Johnson and Lippmann (JL) wave functions and the Sokolov and Ternov (ST) electron eigenfunctions of the magnetic Dirac equation. The ST states are formally correct for self-consistently treating spin-dependent effects that are so important in the resonances. Relatively compact analytic forms for the cross sections are presented that will prove useful for astrophysical modelers.Comment: 45 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Aligning Policing and Public Health Promotion: Insights from the World of Foot Patrol

Foot patrol work is rarely described in relation to public health, even though police routinely encounter health risk behaviors and environments. Through a qualitative study of foot patrol policing in violent ‘hotspots’ of Philadelphia, we explore some prospects and challenges associated with bridging security and public health considerations in law enforcement. Noting existing efforts to help advance police officer knowledge of, and attitudes toward health vulnerabilities, we incorporate perspectives from environmental criminology to help advance this bridging agenda. Extending the notion of capable guardianship to understand foot patrol work, we suggest that the way forward for theory, policy, and practice is not solely to rely on changing officer culture and behavior, but rather to advance a wider agenda for enhancing collective guardianship, and especially ‘place management’ for harm reduction in the city

Stomatin-like Protein 2 Links Mitochondria to T-Cell Receptor Signalosomes at the Immunological Synapse and Enhances T-Cell Activation

T cell activation through the antigen receptor (TCR) requires sustained signalling from microclusters in the peripheral region of the immunological synapse (IS). The bioenergetics of such prolonged signaling have been linked to the redistribution of mitochondria to the IS. Here, we report that stomatin-like protein-2 (SLP-2) plays an important role in this process by bridging polarized mitochondria to these signaling TCR microclusters or signalosomes in the IS in a polymerized actin-dependent manner. In this way, SLP-2 helps to sustain TCR-dependent signalling and enhances T cell activation