EDORA Learn — Methods
Technical Violations vs. New Offenses
Many datasets combine supervision rule violations with new criminal or delinquent offenses. This page clarifies the line between the two and explains how reporting choices affect recidivism, compliance, and program performance metrics.
What We Track
- Technical violation: A breach of supervision conditions without a new criminal offense. Examples include missed appointments, curfew violations, positive drug tests, or electronic monitoring alerts.
- New offense: A legally defined new law violation (e.g., petition, filing, adjudication, or conviction) that occurs after the reference date (release, intake, or program start).
- Mixed measures: Some series count both categories together as “recidivism” or “non-compliance,” while others report parallel series.
- Disposition differences: Some systems record arrests; others require a petition or adjudication. Always read the footnotes before comparing rates.
Typical Flow
- Define the cohort (e.g., youth released in 2021 or youth starting probation in 2022).
- Fix the follow-up window (e.g., 6, 12, or 24 months from the start event).
- Classify outcomes into two flags: technical and new offense.
- Compute parallel rates (technical-only, new-offense-only) and optionally a combined rate with clear labeling.
- Document assumptions (e.g., whether status offenses or court dismissals are included).
Comparability & Caveats
- Sensitivity to policy: Technical violation rates reflect supervision and sanctioning practices as much as youth behavior; policy changes can shift the rate without changing underlying offending.
- Apples-to-apples: Do not compare an arrest-based “new offense” series to an adjudication-based one without noting the definitional gap.
- Mixed series inflation: Combining technicals with new offenses raises the overall rate and can mask whether changes are driven by supervision rules or actual law violations.
- Small-n issues: In small cohorts, a handful of technicals can swing trends; consider year pooling or suppression where appropriate.
Data & Methods
From the research text: best practice is to publish two parallel series—one for new offenses, one for technical violations—using fixed follow-up windows and clearly stated cohort rules. When both arrest-based and adjudication-based outcomes are available, constructing parallel versions of the new offense series improves transparency. Labels and footnotes should specify which events are counted, the time window, and any exclusions.
Related
Transparency note: Parallel series (technical vs. new offense) and explicit footnotes reduce misinterpretation and make cross-source comparisons more reliable.