A UC Irvine professor has won a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Institute of Justice to evaluate the effectiveness of measures attempting to curb recidivism among young men, the university announced Tuesday.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department and UC Irvine will partner in the Road to Reentry program, which involves randomly selected men between the ages of 18 and 25 who are scheduled to be released from the Orange County Jail within three to 12 months.
The inmates will be housed together at the Theo Lacy Facility in Orange, where they will work with a case manager and be provided life skills training, tutoring, parenting classes, employment development, substance abuse prevention information and other support services.
Elizabeth Cauffman, a professor of psychological science in UCI’s School of Social Ecology, will monitor the participants at specific intervals for up to three years after their release to evaluate whether the program helps reduce recidivism.
Cauffman’s research will also examine whether the program decreases infractions and violence within the jail; how it affects security staff working in the jail; and whether it improves mental health and educational and/or employment attainment for program participants.