A Twenty Year Follow-Up of the Kibbutz Resocialization Program: Did it Work and Why?

This paper evaluates the Kibbutz Resocialization Program, that between 1983 and 1998, enrolled 110 prisoners placed each on separate kibbutzim. All offenders were recidivist. Prior convictions included property offense (59%), drug offense (35%), and violent offenses (6%). Program's success criteria included (1) completion of the 6 month required enrollment and dropout rate, (2) offenders' level of work and social integration, and adherence to kibbutz norms rated on a five-point Likert scale (1=low, 5=high) by offenders' adoptive parents who acted as gatekeeper of the kibbutz and socializing agents, and (3) recidivism rate. Recidivism was operationally defined as reincarceration of participants (a) while in the program and (b) five to eighteen years post-program release. Qualitative focused interviews followed longitudinally the progress of 24 offenders who had been interviews in 1984 and 1986. The program's dropout rate was 20 percent. Program graduates' reincarceration rate was 22.7 percent as opposed to 61 percent reincarceration rate of the general prison population in Israeli. The most significant predictors of successful rehabilitation were length of stay in the kibbutz, work and social integration, and adherence to kibbutz norms. Finally, this highly-structured environment provided the framework for successful rehabilitation of most of 66 program participants who had a prior history of drug abuse. Content analysis of qualitative interviews brings to life their experience. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]