Practice Profile: Swift, Certain, and Fair Supervision Strategies for Drug-Involved Individuals

Evidence Rating for Outcomes

Crime & Delinquency | Multiple crime/offense types

Date: This profile was posted on November 05, 2018

The practice comprises supervision strategies used by community supervision officers to address violation behavior of drug-involved individuals on probation and parole who are being supervised in the community. The goals are to generate greater compliance with supervision terms and, as a result, reduce recidivism. The practice is rated Promising for reducing crime rates of drug-involved individuals supervised in the community.

Practice Goals/Target Population

Swift, certain, and fair (SCF) supervision strategies are used by community supervision officers to address violation behavior of individuals (who have histories of drug involvement) on probation and parole. To complete probation and parole, drug-involved individuals are required to follow rules and conditions (such as abstaining from substance use). The idea behind SCF strategies is for community supervision officers to 1) quickly address violations (swift), 2) address all violations (certain), and 3) follow specific sanctioning guidelines (fair). Overall, the goals are to generate greater compliance with supervision terms and, as a result, reduce recidivism (Hawken, Davenport, and Kleiman 2014; Drake 2012).

Practice Components

Participants are required to check in with their community supervision officers regularly and are drug-tested frequently (and often randomly). Program lengths generally range from 3 to 6 months but may vary depending on the underlying sentences of participants and the populations being served.

Programs that use SCF sanctions differ in the types of sanctions delivered when individuals violate the terms of their supervision and how many violations have occurred in the past. The sanctions are designed to be immediate and proportional to the violation. For example, in some programs the first sanction is noncustodial (e.g., if a participant fails a drug test, then there may be an increase in the number of random drug tests), whereas sanctions in other programs may be custodial (e.g., short stays in jail). In response to repeat violations, programs may use graduated sanctions, with each subsequent violation resulting in a more punitive sanction.

In addition, some programs that use SCF sanctions may also provide case management to individuals on probation and parole, especially to drug-involved individuals. Case management is a process to coordinate and monitor services; the goals are to improve collaboration between correctional staff and substance abuse treatment staff and increase participation in substance abuse treatment. There are a variety of strategies used by case managers or specially trained community supervision officers to assess participants’ treatment and programming needs. When those needs are assessed, case managers/supervision officers coordinate access to treatment (such as for substance abuse), monitor the individual’s progress, and advocate on the individual’s behalf, if needed.

Practice Theory

Programs that use SCF sanctions have strong theoretical ties to deterrence theory, which focuses on the swiftness, certainty, and severity of consequences to deter undesirable behavior (O’Connell et al. 2011). Within this model, certainty and immediacy of consequences are critical to desistance from further criminal behavior and substance abuse.

Moreover, programs using SCF sanctions are also based on procedural justice theory. Specifically, it is believed that individuals are most likely to obey the terms of their supervision when they know the terms; perceive these terms and those who enforce them, as fair; believe that violations will be detected; and believe that the consequences of violations will be unpleasant, yet fair (Hawken, Davenport, and Kleiman 2014)

Meta-Analysis Snapshot
	Literature Coverage Dates	Number of Studies	Number of Study Participants
Meta Analysis 1	1994-2016	9	0

Meta Analysis 1

The Washington State Institute for Public Policy (2017) conducted a systematic review of evaluations of case management programs for drug-involved individuals that use swift, certain, and fair (SCF) sanctions to determine if these programs reduced crime. To locate studies, researchers consulted bibliographies of the literature on substance-use case management approaches, examined the citations in the studies obtained, conducted a literature search of various databases and search engines, and contacted authors to learn of any other research in the topic areas. Once a list of potential studies was obtained, the list was narrowed to include only outcome evaluations. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to include an outcome measure of criminal recidivism, use random assignment or a quasi-experimental design, and include enough information to calculate an effect size. Furthermore, to be eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis, studies did not have to be published; however, most were found in peer-reviewed journals or on agency websites. Finally, studies were excluded from the meta-analysis if the treatment group consisted solely of program completers, as such a treatment group would likely bias the results.

A total of nine studies met the eligibility criteria. Of the nine studies, five were randomized trials and four were quasi-experimental designs. These studies included a total of 4,570 individuals in the treatment group, with an average age of 31 (the number of individuals in the comparison groups and the average age of comparison group participants were not provided). Comparison group participants generally received treatment-as-usual or standard probation/parole services. The gender and race/ethnicity breakdown of study participants in the treatment and comparison groups were also not provided. The studies took place in jurisdictions across the United States, including Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, Oregon, and Washington.

The nine studies each contributed an individual effect size, which were combined to produce a weighted average effect size for case management programs using SCF sanctions on crime. Random effects inverse variance weights were used to calculate the weighted average effect size.

Date Created: July 17, 2024

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Practice Snapshot

Age: 18+

Gender: Male, Female

Targeted Population: Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Offenders

Setting (Delivery): Other Community Setting

Practice Type: Alcohol and Drug Therapy/Treatment, Probation/Parole Services, Specific deterrence, Wraparound/Case Management

Unit of Analysis: Persons

Practice Profile: Swift, Certain, and Fair Supervision Strategies for Drug-Involved Individuals

Notice

Practice Summary

Practice Description

Practice Goals/Target Population

Practice Components

Practice Theory

Meta-Analysis Outcomes

Meta-Analysis Methodology

Cost

Evidence-Base (Meta-Analyses Reviewed)

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