Characteristics of Offenders Participating in the Romanian Prison Service Credit System

Abstract

Correctional assessment strategies and standards of practice should help to identify those offenders who are “good candidates” for earlier or conditional release while incarcerated. Several studies conducted on the Romanian prison population showed that a restricted set of items could accurately identify potential for early release decision-making and post release outcomes. Among a variety of relevant predictors identified was offender participation in a credit scheme with accompanying rewards and penalties. The Romanian Prison Service’s automated database was used to identify groups of offenders who had either earned (total, social reintegration activities or work) or lost credits for analytical purposes. These groups were used to make comparisons on a variety of case specific variables such as criminal history, sentence length, offence type and education. The present study extends previous research on prediction by unpacking offender participation in the credit scheme in relation to two outcome measures; early release from custody as well as subsequent returns to custody after early release.