Supportive housing as an alternative to imprisonment
(Rule 64, Chapter 1)
Drew House in New York, USA, is a partnership between the local District Attorney’s Office and a non-profit supportive housing provider, which allows women charged with their first non-violent felony offence to fulfil the Court’s mandates while living with their children in a supportive housing apartment. Drew House offers a rehabilitative environment that focuses on family stability, counselling, job training, and other support services. It is also a permanent supportive housing programme, meaning that women who have completed their court mandates are welcome to stay for as long as they want to.
In response to the serious impediments that a felony charge presents to future employment and housing opportunities, felony charges are expunged after completion of the programme to prevent future disenfranchisement. Allowing women to reside in Drew House with their children has been found to have strengthened families without compromising public safety.
For more information see:
https://housingplusnyc.org/drew-house-alternative-to-incarceration/
‘Evaluation of a Supportive Housing Alternative to Incarceration for Women Charged with a Felony and Their Children’ by Lorie S. Goshin et al.
Developing gender-responsive risk and needs assessment tools
(Rules 40–41, Chapter 7)
Recognising that women have very different pathways to prison than men and that traditional assessment tools are male-oriented, the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment (WRNA) was developed in the US by the National Institute of Corrections in cooperation with the University of Cincinnati. The WRNA comprises gender-responsive risk and needs assessment tools designed to respond to the specific needs of women in criminal justice systems, taking into account their distinct biological, social and psychological attributes. They include a case file review, a semi-structured interview, a written survey and a case management treatment plan tailored to women.
Overall, the WRNA has been effective at predicting women’s recidivism and other re-offending behaviour, indicating that the WRNA is a valid tool for classifying adult women in prison. Specifically, items on the WRNA showed statistically significant positive correlations with measures of re-incarceration, technical violations, new arrests, and new convictions.
For more information see:
https://socialwork.utah.edu/research/ucjc/wrna/index.php
Blog: ‘The Women’s Risk Needs Assessment: Putting Gender at the Forefront of Actuarial Risk Assessment’, Breanna Boppre and Emily Salisbury for PRI