This study used a quasi-experimental design and survival analyses to evaluate the effects of the Boston Reentry Initiative (BRI) on the subsequent recidivism of program participants compared to an equivalent control group.
Despite the high level of funding and policy interest in prisoner reentry, there is still little rigorous scientific evidence to guide jurisdictions in developing reentry programs to improve public safety, particularly for managing those who pose the greatest safety risks. The Boston Reentry Initiative (BRI) is an interagency initiative to help transition violent adult offenders released from the local jail back to their Boston neighborhoods through their participation in mentoring, social service assistance, and vocational development. The current evaluation of the BRI found that it contributed to significant reductionson the order of 30 percentin the overall and violent arrest failure rates of participants. 26 references (publisher abstract modified)