Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

Browse

Filters

2005 - 200912010 - 20111

Settings

Author: search.filters.author.Frederique, Nadine P.

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Effectiveness of School Based Intensive Probation for Reducing Recidivism: An Evaluation of Maryland's Spotlight on Schools Program
    (2011) Frederique, Nadine P.; Gottfredson, Denise C; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    School Based Probation programs provide intensive supervision for juvenile probationers by placing probation officers in high schools. However, they have yet to undergo rigorous evaluation. Previous evaluations suffered from methodological flaws and have presented inconsistent findings. The state of Maryland began its SBP program, called Spotlight on Schools (SOS), in the 1990's. It is now used in many schools throughout the state. SOS has never been formally assessed. This dissertation presents results from a quasi-experimental non-equivalent group study examining the recidivism rates of students in schools with and without this probation program. I address the flaws of previous evaluations by using two statistical methods. First, I use multi-level modeling to predict school level recidivism while controlling for statistically relevant individual level and school level characteristics. Second, I use survival analysis to determine if juveniles on SBP experience a longer time in the community before recidivism. These analyses are supplemented with interviews of school principals and probation officers. Results from the multi-level modeling and survival analysis indicate that school participation in the SOS program is not significantly related to likelihood of recidivism or the seriousness of recidivism. Seven of the eight outcome variables assessed in this evaluation are not significantly related to participation in the SOS program. This study joins a long list of intensive supervision evaluations that suggest that these programs have no significant impact on juvenile recidivism.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Impact of Sentence Length on the Recidivism of Violent Offenders: An Exploratory Analysis of Pennsylvania Data 1997-2001
    (2005-12-16) Frederique, Nadine P.; Bushway, Shawn; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The current research seeks to answer the question whether tough sentences decrease the probability of recidivism. The specific deterrence literature posits that increased sentence severity decreases the probability of recidivism. The results of previous studies on the incarceration decision and recidivism were mixed with some studies claiming that sentence length has no impact on recidivism and some claiming that sentence length increases the probability of recidivism. Relatively few past studies have focused exclusively on the impact of time served in prison on the recidivism of serious violent offenders. I use judge assignment as an instrumental variable to correct for omitted variable bias. It is found to be an exogenous variable that is not related to recidivism, but is related to predicting time served in prison. Using two-stage least squares regression, I find that longer sentence length increases the probability of recidivism. Implications for specific deterrence and labeling theory are discussed.