The Power of Personal Narratives in Crime Prevention and Reentry: Process Evaluation of the Seattle Police Department’s IF Project

Abstract

ABSTRACT With thousands of ex-offenders entering communities every week, reentry is at the forefront of agendas for legislators and correctional administrators. The IF Project, founded in 2008 in Washington State, seeks to foster crime prevention and successful reentry through the use of offender narratives. This paper reports results from an evaluation of the IF Project comprised of process and outcome elements including: 1) Development of an IF Project “tool-kit” describing program structure, components and content; and 2) Pilot of a pre/post survey instrument to understand how the program is perceived by participants. Results from analyses of surveys and observation of the IF Project workshops including 68 adult participants is presented. Future steps in evaluating the IF Project are discussed.