HD61 - Evaluation of the Norfolk Day Reporting Center (NDRC)
Executive Summary: In 1994, the General Assembly authorized funding for the development of a day reporting center in the City of Norfolk for probation and parole technical violators. The purpose of this program was to provide non-residential punishment which assured high standards of public safety. Ideally, a day reporting center program would reserve costly correctional bed space for more serious violent offenders. It would also provide the drug services, education and other assistance necessary to prevent recidivism in offenders. The Norfolk Day Reporting Center (NDRC) began accepting offenders on April 3, 1995. The NDRC program was originally conceptualized to target the population of probationers and parolees in the City of Norfolk who technically violate the conditions of community supervision. The scope of the program was ultimately expanded to include offenders directly sentenced to the program by Circuit Court judges and inmates released directly to the program by the Virginia Parole Board. The NDRC is operated by six Department of Corrections (DOC) staff, who supervise and monitor offenders, and three services personnel, who provide drug treatment, educational assistance, and life skills assistance. The program incorporates three levels of treatment and supervision, with each level providing less stringent supervision requirements than the preceding one. In addition, offenders are sanctioned to discourage negative behaviors. The evaluation was designed to provide information on the offenders participating in the NDRC program, the types of services received by offenders, and the degree of participant success with program requirements. A follow-up study was conducted to examine the outcomes for NDRC participants after they exited the program. Data collection instruments were constructed by the evaluators and completed by NDRC staff and district Probation/Parole officers. The evaluation results suggest that the NDRC program is achieving its goals of ensuring public safety and providing individualized treatment/rehabilitative services to many of its clients. However, the evaluators have developed several recommendations that may be useful in improving program effectiveness: • Attempt to improve the program success rate through improved client selection and individualized treatment. • Expand the drug treatment services available at the NDRC. If additional funds are not available for expanding the drug treatment program, the NDRC should allocate its treatment resources in the following order of priority: drug treatment; employment services; educational services. • As reduction of prison costs is a primary goal of the NDRC, the NDRC should attempt to: (1) accept only clients who are prison bed diversions, and (2) reduce the number of days offenders are supervised by the NDRC while maintaining current treatment/program requirements. • Attempt to qualitatively determine predictors of absconding. |
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