Panel:
Results from the HOPE Demonstration Field Experiment Four-Site Randomized Controlled Trial
(Crime and Drugs)
Thursday, November 3, 2016: 3:00 PM-4:30 PM
Northwest (Washington Hilton)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
Panel Organizers: Pamela K. Lattimore, RTI International, Inc.
Panel Chairs: Edward Banks, Bureau of Justice Assistance
Discussants: Angela Hawken, Pepperdine University
This session presents the findings from a four-site randomized control trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the Honest Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) replication of the Hawaii Opportunity Probation with Enforcement program. HOPE programs are intended to provide swift, certain, and modest responses to violations of conditions of probation supervision. For example, immediate jailing and a violation hearing within 24 hours for a positive drug test with the hearing resulting in an immediate several-day jail sentence. The Bureau of Justice Assistance funded sites in Arkansas, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Texas in 2011 to implement HOPE programs and funded technical assistance to support implementation fidelity. The National Institute of Justice concurrently competitively selected RTI International and the Pennsylvania State University to conduct an evaluation of these programs. Beginning in the summer 2012, medium/high risk probationers were randomly assigned to either the HOPE program or to probation as usual (PAU); study enrollment in all sites concluded on or before September 26, 2014, with a total of 1,521 evaluation enrollees. HOPE or Swift, Certain, and Fair program models have been adapted across the United States and internationally with relatively limited evidence in support of their effectiveness. This session presents findings from the largest and most rigorous examination of the effectiveness of HOPE to reduce drug use, probation violations, and criminal recidivism Results from the process, outcome, and economic evaluations of the HOPE Demonstration Field Experiment (DFE) are presented.
