Abstract

The interest that I have in my topic is a result of the extreme problem of overcrowded jails, that our country has been subjected to. The search for alternative forms of punishment as well as rehabilitation has become intense. The need for evaluations of these alternative answers have become detrimental to their existence. The idea of electronically monitored home arrest programs is one that could eventually change or whole punitive system, if it is nurtured to better both our punished as well as our society as a whole. The main step in turning home incarceration into a well established successful alternative comes out of determining which individuals are best suited for these programs. This is why I chose to measure the impact of personal characteristics on the successfulness of program completion. Information resulting from my hypotheses can be used to screen individuals for these types of programs. The study which I executed was a secondary analysis based on the data gathered by Michael G. Maxfeild and Terry L. Baumer, in their 1992 study of pretrial home detention in Marion County, Indiana. The study used a population of 224 participants who could not afford bail but did not need to be incarcerated in a formal institution. Using this data, I developed four hypotheses that were tested measuring the success of participants as the dependent variable and four characteristics that potentially could predict success or failure as the independent variables. The cross tabulations that were designed help to prove that marital and employment status were predictors of success, while living arrangements and home visits by officers, proved to predict success theoretically but not statistically. My study has shown the importance of evaluating participants personal characteristics and should supply future researchers with information vital to analyzing electronically monitored home detention programs.

Advisor

Blair, Robert

Department

Sociology and Anthropology

Publication Date

1996

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 1996 Kevin P. Wukela