Halfway House or Probation: A Comparison of Alternative Dispositions

Halfway house programs have a long history in American corrections. Current concerns over prison crowding have led to increased interest in the use of halfway house placements for convicted offenders. This article compares a sample of offenders placed in halfway house programs with a sample of offenders receiving regular probation supervision. Data concerning the legal, social and demographic characteristics of both groups were collected from agency records. Similar information about services rendered to the two samples was also gathered. Police records were checked over a three year period to compare the two groups in terms of post-release criminal behavior. Using analysis of variance and covariance as well as discriminant function analysis, the groups were compared on three indicators of outcome; program completion, positive social adjustment, and new offense behavior. No significant differences were found between the two groups based on any of these indicators, although the halfway house sample posed a greater a priori risk at the start. The article concludes that halfway house placement appears appropriate for some offenders, but that such placements may be better made if based on service needs rather than desires to increase penalty severity. Finally, a number of avenues for further research are briefly outlined.