RESIDENTIAL PROBATION - A 7-YEAR FOLLOW-UP-STUDY OF HALFWAY HOUSE DISCHARGES

Nonexperimental studies of halfway houses have generally focused on is olating correlates of resident success or failure in the program, with minimal attention given to whether correlates of in-program success/f ailure are also predictive of postprogram performance. Moreover, the q uestion of how successful program completion relates to postprogram re cidivism has received little attention. This study analyzes predictors of successful discharge and recidivism over a seven-year period follo wing the discharge of 156 subjects from a probation halfway house know n as the Kalamazoo Probation Enhancement Program (KPEP). Findings reve al that while relatively few residents received successful discharges from KPEP, those who did were less likely to recidivate than those who received unsuccessful discharges. Additionally, despite various contr ols, African-American subjects were significantly more likely to have rearrest records over seven years. The findings are discussed in the c ontext of the halfway house literature, and their implications are con sidered.