The Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA)

Abstract

CSOSA is the agency that supervises residents on probation and parole in the District of Columbia. In 2017, it supervised 16,407 District residents. In that year, 90% of CSOSA's clients' technical violations came from drug use and drug testing violations, and these technical violations caused 10% of the agency's revocation to incarceration in 2017. CSOSA sanctions its clients by sending them to day reporting center and CSOSA performs home visits (an astounding 45,124 in 2017). Yet, to date, there is scant evidence showing any relationship between sanctions, or day reporting centers, or home visits and recidivism and public safety. It's true, there is no agreement among social scientists as to the number of studies needed to confirm that an intervention “works.” However, to date, none of the methods used by CSOSA have been shown to “work.”