Research Team
Project Overview
In partnership with researchers at Northeastern University, CJP researchers are assisting in evaluating the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office’s (HCSO) Step-Down Program. The step-down program is NIJ-funded and the investigation involves a difference-in-difference analysis of reentry outcomes of step-down participants and matched detainees who do not have access to the program. The goal of this effort is to determine the effectiveness of the program in reducing recidivism for individuals reentering Hampden County from Massachusetts Department of Correction prisons. CJP researchers will have the largest impact on the Cost-Benefit Analysis portion of the research. Because other county officials have expressed interest in replicating the step-down program in their own jurisdictions, researchers are building a website where practitioners and the public can examine the HCSO’s entire budget for the step-down program and can build their own budget based off their county’s needs.
