Second Chance Act Demonstration Field Experiment: Fostering Desistance through Effective Supervision

Grants.gov number assigned to announcement: BJA-2012-3115

Due date: February 23, 2012, 11:59 p.m. eastern time

The Bureau of Justice Assistance, in a collaborative effort with the National Institute of Corrections and the National Institute of Justice, is seeking proposals to implement an innovative intervention using a desistance approach as part of a Demonstration Field Experiment (DFE) on prisoner reentry. This multi-site project will also provide a rigorous test of this reentry model intended to; 1) improve offenders’ motivation to change; 2) address cognitive and behavioral functioning regarding crime-prone thoughts and behaviors; and 3) address core factors that affect offender performance while under community supervision following release from prison.

DFE sites will be selected based upon their commitment to building knowledge and implementing the reentry program model with fidelity, adhering to the requirements of the randomized controlled trial, and aiding in the collection and analysis data in an automated fashion. For this project, offenders released from prison and under community supervision will be recruited to participate in this study. This model will only focus on offenders who are assessed as moderate- to high-risk for re-offending and, to ensure that the resulting research is valid, each site must be able to assign at least 500 parolees over a 30-month period to the project.

Sites selected to participate in the DFE are expected to have a reentry program in place that includes assessing offenders and using the results to tailor reentry plans to individuals with a particular focus on continuity of care from prison to the community. By participating in this project local, state, and tribal partners will have an opportunity to participate in a state-of-the-art effort to build new evidence in a critical area and to at the same time receive extensive training, coaching, and funding support for staff and programming.

BJA anticipates that it will make awards to up to four sites of up to $1 million each for a 12-month project period, with a start date of August 1, 2012. With the 180 day start-up period, applicants must commit to fully implementing the DFE no later than February 1, 2013. Supplemental funding for the second and third years of this project will be available to those sites that implement the model with fidelity. BJA is requesting that funds awarded under this program cover no more than 75 percent of the total costs of the program. Applicants may satisfy the match request with either cash or in-kind services.

For full text, see: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/12SecondChanceDFEsol.pdf