Testing the Functions and Effect of the Parole Halfway House: One Case Study

Abstract

programs. This paper reports on a study of a Boston halfway house's clients over a seven year period. The paper begins with an analysis of background data on clients, including trends over time, and makes comparisons to parallel data on the general parolee and releasee populations, where available. The second section of the paper presents data on length of stay and mode of termination, and attempts to relate these variables to background factors. The final section of the paper describes a follow-up of the client group to determine the overall recidivism rate, and a comparison of that rate to the rate that might have been predicted for the group by using appropriate base expectancy tables. Halfway houses include residential facilities with capacities from two or three to over fifty, and which provide services and treatment ranging from simple shelter to intensive therapeutic community. They focus on a number of social problems, only one of which is the ex-offender's difficult transition from