Local Study Questions Re-Entry Success Claims
The Fort Wayne IN Journal Gazette has questioned the success rates claimed by the local Re-Entry Court.
[M]ore than half of those who walk through [the re-Entry Court] doors each Friday morning aren’t successful, according to a Journal Gazette analysis of Re-Entry Court figures. Released from prison early in exchange for electronic monitoring and a structured life, they are terminated for rule violations or for committing new crimes. Even some who complete the program return to old habits. The newspaper’s analysis discovered several errors and omissions in the program’s data, but generally it found:
- At least 42 percent of all past participants – those who complete it and those who do not – were rearrested on new charges during or after leaving Re-Entry Court.
- About a third of those who complete the program are rearrested within three years. That includes some arrests reported in Journal Gazette news stories but not found in the court’s data.
- Two studies done by Re-Entry Court don’t mention the percentage of participants who fail and base the rearrest rate on those who successfully completed the program, excluding those who were terminated.
- An estimated $5.6 million in savings the studies attribute to Re-Entry Court’s crime reduction has caused some debate, enough to keep the figures from general distribution.
The court has its own statistical analysis.
Bolstered by that statistical analysis, Re-Entry Court officials believe the program – touted as a possible national model – is an improvement over former efforts and back it as a success. “We’re spending enough effort I hope it’s working, and I believe it is,” said Allen Superior Court Judge John Surbeck, who presides over Re-Entry Court.
Read more about the debate in the Journal Gazette.