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This article discusses the role of politics in the Juvenile Justice Educational Enhancement Program's effort to use evaluation research data to inform Florida's juvenile justice education policies and practices. Through consideration of the Juvenile Justice Education Enhancement Program's experiences with privatization and the tough love and economy of scale rationales for larger and more custodial juvenile institutions, the variable role of politics is examined. Although the two examples are different, the discussion demonstrates that by maintaining an overriding commitment to its evaluation research purpose, the Juvenile Justice Educational Enhancement Program has been able to continue its data-driven policy efforts despite operating in a politically charged environment.

This article provides an overview of the history and context leading to Florida's efforts to implement an evaluation-driven research and associated quality assurance system for its juvenile justice education policies and practices. The Juvenile Justice Educational Enhancement Program began implementing Florida's evaluation research and quality assurance system to juvenile justice education in 1998. The article includes a brief summary of articles comprising this special issue of Evaluation Review that address the Juvenile Justice Educational Enhancement Program's various functions, methodological components, data, preliminary findings, continuing evaluation research efforts, and impediments.

This study is an empirical assessment of the work release program in the Florida Division of Corrections An experimental design was used in which, randomly, 188 persons were assigned to a work release group and 93 to a control group. Follow-up interviews were conducted in the community, and recidivism data were obtained from Division of Corrections files and from FBI rap sheets. Eighteen different indices of recidivism were examined, using both discrete and continuous measures. The work release and control groups showed no appreciable differences on any of the recidivism measures and length of time in work release also failed to be consistently related to recidivism. Controls were introduced for 16 demographic, prior record, andjob-related variables, which did not alter the original findings Policy implications of the results are discussed.

During the past decade various victim-witness programs have literally exploded across the United States. However, despite the unprecedented growth in the number ofprograms, available services to crime victims and witnesses remain largely uneven and fragmented. This study provides the first major effort any jurisdiction has made in providing systematic assessment and planning for the development of comprehensive crime victim-witness services. Detailed descrip tions of the various methods employed in the study's victim projections and the methods used in developing specific program component recommendations are provided. The study concludes with an identification of the program model and a discussion of the implementation and operation of the various program components comprised in the model.

This study examines the relationship between assessments of the risk of punishment and self‐reported involvement in three illegal behaviors in a sample of college‐aged respondents. It is found that those respondents who had not yet committed a particular offense were more likely to perceive a greater certainty of punishment than those with experience in committing the offense. For two of three offenses the effect of becoming involved in offending had a more substantial impact on the perceptions of those respondents with both experience in offending and high perceived certainty of punishment than on those who had experience and less pessimistic estimates of risk Finally, a multivariate analysis of the relationship between behavioral and perceptual change reveals that each variable affects the other even when other sources of change are controlled. The importance of the findings for the deterrence doctrine are discussed.

This article describes two stages of the Juvenile Justice Educational Enhancement Program's pre-, post-, and longitudinal evaluation research. Pilot studies were used to explore how to design statewide research of pre- and postassessment scores and community reintegration outcomes. Preliminary findings suggest that higher performing educational programs produce greater educational gains as measured by academic achievement tests, credits earned, and pupil progression rates. The findings also indicate that these programs have more students returning to school and lower recidivism rates. Building on the pilot studies, refinements were made to the research designs to enable more comprehensive statewide evaluation. Current research includes collection of pre- and postassessment scores from official sources on approximately 16,000 juvenile justice youths. In addition, a research design has been developed to examine program effectiveness by measuring community reintegration variables. Multiple data sources, including official and self-reported data on family, school, employment, and subsequent crime involvement, will be used in the longitudinal study.