The Virginia Department of Corrections is committed to adherence to national evidence-based practices standards to create public safety in Virginia communities by reducing probationer criminal risks and promoting prosocial behavior change. In fact, VADOC has had a leading role among corrections agencies in translating research into effective practices. In July 2024, the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) published National Standards for Community Supervision to serve as a guide for community corrections agencies to implement effective correctional practices. This report provides a summary of evidence-based practices (EBP) core standards and how the department has implemented these practices to ensure effective supervision. These efforts have resulted in Virginia having either the lowest or second lowest rate of recidivism in the country for the last nine years with a current rate of 17.6% for the FY2020 cohort.(*1) EBP required components in any corrections system include Risk and Needs Assessment; Case Plans; Qualifying Programming and Interventions; Incentives and Sanctions; and Fidelity of Practice (on-going staff training and coaching).

Ongoing data collection and continual process refinement is critical to maintain effective evidence-based practices. National research strongly demonstrates that to be effective, these components of evidence-based practices must be implemented together and only implementing individual components while omitting others will not produce the same positive outcomes and may make individuals worse.

The following is an overview of core evidence-based practices that must be implemented in a community corrections system to reduce criminality.
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(*1) Virginia DOC’s official recidivism measure is the re-incarceration of inmates with new State responsible sentence within three years of their release. VADOC waits at least four years for data to mature to derive a three rate.