Program Goals
The Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) program in a midwestern state is a U.S. Department of Justice- funded program designed to help convicted individuals (and eventual parolees) positively adjust to reentering the community. The program aims to reduce recidivism and revocation of parolees following release from prison.
Target Population
SVORI targets males and females 18 years or older with at least 12 months remaining to serve on their current sentences. Participants comprise individuals who were imprisoned for committing serious and violent offenses and who will soon be granted parole and return to one of three counties that host a designated reentry program. The participants must have an LSI-R score of 30 or higher, which indicates a high Level of Supervision Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) domain score. Individuals with an LSI-R score of 25-29 are considered for inclusion on a case-by-case basis.
Program Theory
SVORI heavily relies on the principles of the risk-needs-responsivity (RNR) model. The RNR model (Andrews and Bonta 2003; Andrews, Bonta, and Hoge 1990) has three core principles:
- Risk principle: The level of services should be matched to the level of risk posed by the individual who committed the offense. High-risk individuals should receive more intensive services; low-risk individuals should receive minimal services.
- Need principle: Target criminogenic needs with services—that is, target those factors that are associated with criminal behavior. Such factors might include substance use, procriminal attitudes, criminal associates, and the like. Do not target other, noncriminogenic factors (such as emotional distress, self-esteem issues) unless they act as a barrier to changing criminogenic factors.
- Responsivity principle: The ability and learning style of the individual should determine the style and mode of intervention. Research has shown the general effectiveness of using social-learning and cognitive–behavioral style interventions.
Program Components
SVORI consists of two primary phases: in-prison and community. The in-prison phase begins when an individual is within 12 to 18 months of his or her scheduled release-from-prison date. The results from the LSI-R assessment provide guidance for identifying an individual’s criminogenic needs and for making referrals to in-prison programs, particularly for those areas where individuals were assessed as having high needs. For example, if an individual scores higher in the LSI-R education/employment domain, he or she would be referred to the workforce development program.
During the in-prison phase, there are also in-reach efforts made by the individual’s community-based case manager and parole officer. During the in-reach, the case manager develops the case plan based on the results from the LSI-R. The same case manager follows an individual from the prison to the community, with the intent of securing a seamless delivery of services during the reentry process. The LSI-R is administered again a few weeks after community reentry, after which the case plan is revised.
The community phase provides services to individuals after they are released, to aid in successful community integration. Needs for services and referrals are made based on the criminogenic needs identified by the updated, post-release LSI-R results. A team of community providers (including the case manager, parole officer, and an accountability panel that includes community stakeholders) work together to secure long-term support for individuals. For those identified as being successful in the community, a graduation ceremony is held at 6 months post-release. Alumni services are also available.
