In a randomized controlled experiment involving 216 probation or parole officers (PPOs) overseeing 20,478 adults on probation or parole (APPs), PPOs completed a 30-minute exercise designed to affirm their sense of purpose and enhance their understanding of APPs' perspectives; for at least 10 months after the empathic supervision intervention, PPOs' belief that APPs are likely to reoffend decreased, and, following the intervention for the PPOs, there was a 13% reduction in APPs' recidivism, according to the authors.
Article #20-18036: "A scalable empathic supervision intervention to mitigate recidivism from probation and parole" by Jason A. Okonofua, Kimia Saadatian, Joseph Ocampo, Michael Ruiz, and Perfecta Delgado Oxholm.
MEDIA CONTACT: Jason A. Okonofua, University of California, Berkeley, CA; tel: 901-825-2240; email: okonofua@berkeley.edu ; okonofua@gmail.com
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences