Dr. Marny Rivera, Justice faculty, has been awarded a contract by
Jackson County Community Justice in Oregon to evaluate their Second Chance Family-Based Offender Program. This program provides treatment and services to medium and high risk drug dependent offenders who are custodial parents of minor children in Jackson County. In addition to treatment services, the grant covers costs for staff to help facilitate visits between parents and their children in a setting other than jail. Dr. Rivera will examine the success of this program in meeting the needs of the offenders and their families, and reducing recidivism.
According to a
Bureau of Justice Statistics report, in 2007, 53% of offenders incarcerated in the U.S. were parents with an estimated total number of 1.7 million children under the age of 18. Drug and public-order offenders were more likely than violet offenders to have children. The Oregon project is part of the federal
Second Chance Act which is designed
to aid offenders with reentry into their communities by providing
substance abuse treatment, employment assistance, and other services to
reduce recidivism.
