Dodge City Adopts Best Practices
In 2006, more than 44% of community corrections clients in Dodge City violated the terms of their supervision order. This annoyed Director Pat Klecker:
“I was frustrated,” said Klecker. “I knew that my (Intensive Supervision Officers) were doing a very good job, but we were not being effective. And I [was] troubled with it.”
Through NCIC he found ” The Eight Principles of Effective Intervention” and he knew it would help.
The Eight Principles of Effective Intervention say in order to successfully release an offender from probation, the corrections facility needs to help change the way the offender thinks and reacts to particular situations. The principles are as follows: Assess actuarial risk and needs, enhance intrinsic motivation, target intervention, skill train with directed practice, increase positive reinforcement, engage ongoing support in natural communities, measure relevant processes and practices, and provide measurement feedback. ISOs will utilize pro-social or rehabilitation interventions to emphasize positive behaviors. Research by the Center for Effective Public Policy says “punishment and deterrence-driven approaches used in isolation have negligible impact or no impact.” But when using positive reinforcement, revocation rates decrease and re-arrest rates can be lowered by as much as 20 percent …
Between July 1, 2006, and today, SFTCC has already reduced by 59.1 percent the number of felony offenders who are sent to prison for violating the conditions of their probation.
This is, of course, re-entry at the basic level. More details can be found in the Dodge City Daily Globe.
Community Corrections, Grants, KS Santa Fe Trail Community Corrections, Kansas, Re-Entry