A scalable empathic supervision intervention to mitigate recidivism from probation and parole

Abstract

Incarceration is a pervasive issue in the United States that is enormously costly to families, communities, and society at large. The path from prison back to prison may depend on the relationship a person has with their probation or parole officer (PPO). If the relationship lacks appropriate care and trust, violations and recidivism (return to jail or prison) may be more likely to occur. Here, we test whether an “empathic supervision” intervention with PPOs—that aims to reduce collective blame against and promote empathy for the perspectives of adults on probation or parole (APPs)—can reduce rates of violations and recidivism. The intervention highlights the unreasonable expectation that all APPs will reoffend (collective blame) and the benefits of empathy—valuing APPs’ perspectives. Using both within-subject (monthly official records for 10 mo) and between-subject (treatment versus control) comparisons in a longitudinal study with PPOs in a large US city (NPPOs = 216; NAPPs=∼20,478), we find that the empathic supervision intervention reduced collective blame against APPs 10 mo postintervention and reduced between-subject violations and recidivism, a 13% reduction that would translate to less taxpayer costs if scaled. Together, these findings illustrate that very low-cost psychological interventions that target empathy in relationships can be cost effective and combat important societal outcomes in a lasting manner.

Sidelining Bias: A Situationist Approach to Reduce the Consequences of Bias in Real-World Contexts

“…Thus, the treatment highlighted officers' professional goals and the means to attain them in ways that made bias against formerly incarcerated people dysfunctional, sidelining it, as illustrated in Table 4. Over the course of 10 months, relative to a randomized control condition, the intervention reduced documented violations and reduced recidivism by 11% among the approximately 20,000 adults on probation or parole whom the officers served (Okonofua et al, 2021). Upon becoming an officer and being assigned a caseload, you get to meet people from all 'walks of life' and will interact with a side of the world most people only see and hear about on T.V.…”

Impact of Growth Mindset-Enhanced Trauma Education on Criminal Legal Professionals’ Attitudes and Perceptions

“…As such, growth mindset interventions go above and beyond typical resilience messaging, thereby enhancing potential impact. Furthermore, although we focused on the attitudes and perceptions of system actors, prior research suggests that growth mindset interventions directed at such actors (e.g., probation officers) can also have positive impacts on client outcomes (e.g., reduced recidivism; Okonofua et al, 2021).…”

Caring for providers to improve patient experience (CPIPE): intervention development process

“…Further, existing psychological theories posit that people are inherently complex, with multiple and often contradictory patterns of selves. Thus, it is possible to reduce the effects of people’s bias through activities that elevate the alternative selves and goals that people endorse, without actually removing their deep-seated biases – referred to as sidelining implicit bias [ 81 , 82 ]. We therefore utilised content from our prior research to increase bias awareness and mitigation, as well as an overall focus on the caring provider whose goal is to provide PCMC – with particular attention for the needs of the most vulnerable whom they may unintentionally mistreat.…”