The impact of Correctional Program referral guidelines on low-risk men offenders

This study examines the impact of the policy restricting participation of low-risk offenders in correctional programs on the offenders’ actual rate of program participation and the subsequent impact on key correctional outcomes. [...] To determine whether trends in the referral patterns started prior to the implementation of the guidelines, an additional analysis examined the longer-term, eight year (32 quarters) trend in referrals of low-risk offenders to the NRCPs. [...] The SIR-R1 was used to determine risk for 89% (n=3,016) of the study sample and the CRS was used for the remaining 11% (n=355), frequencies that correspond to the proportion of Aboriginal study participants. [...] However since the switch to the DFIA-R occurred between the two study group cohorts, the majority of offenders in the Post-NCPRG group (those admitted after August 2009) were assessed under the DFIA-R, while the entire Pre- NCPRG group was assessed by the DFIA. [...] Although the domains captured in the DFIA and DFIR-R are the same for the two measures, the number of individual indicators decreased in the DFIA-R, and the categories of ratings changed.