Comparison Group
Definition
A matched group that did not receive a programme or sentence, used to isolate that programme's effect on reoffending from other causes of the same fall or rise.
Related terms
- Base Rate
- The prior probability of an event or proposition before specific evidence is considered. In forensic inference, the base rate is the probability...
- Desistance
- The process by which an individual stops offending, usually gradual rather than a single event, and typically tied to changes in routine,...
- Habitual Offender Legislation
- Statutes that impose registration, restriction or an enhanced sentence on a person with a defined number of prior qualifying convictions, including three-strikes...
- Recidivism
- The tendency of a person who has been convicted of a crime to reoffend. Measured differently across jurisdictions: by reconviction, by reincarceration,...
- Reconviction
- A recidivism measure counting only new offences that result in a court finding of guilt, narrower than rearrest and wider than reimprisonment.