SB 678 Program

About the Program

Category: Criminal Justice and Public Safety (Best in Category)

Year: 2013

In 2009 California passed SB 678. The purpose of SB 678 was to reduce the number of probationers being sentenced to California state prison for technical probation violations and new law violations. San Bernardino County Probation Department developed a new program to address the desired outcomes of SB 678. Utilizing the current evidence based risk assessment tool, the program targeted medium risk offenders who were in violation or potentially in violation of their probation and in danger of being sentenced to state prison. Probationers were screened for the program and placed on small caseloads (no more than 50 offenders per officer). Probation Officers were trained to facilitate groups that utilized cognitive journaling programs. Additionally they received a year of intensive training in Motivational Interviewing skills. The overall probation failure rate was 9%. This program sought to reduce that rate by 50%. In order to measure the success of the program, re-arrest and conviction rates were looked at 6, 9 and 12 months after exiting the program. These numbers were compared to a random control group. For those offenders completing the program, the new felony conviction rate was 1.1% compared to 9.5%.