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Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) (during incarceration)

Adult Criminal Justice
  Literature review updated July 2024.

The Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) is an incarcerated individual-run, prison-based intervention that provides other incarcerated individuals with alternatives to violent behavior to decrease the rate of violence within and among the prison population and influence behavior in the community on release from prison. Ultimately, AVP workshops require participants to take responsibility for themselves and the consequences of their behavior, to serve as a community for other incarcerated individuals, and to find options other than fight or flight when faced with conflict.

AVP is a five-step program (basic training, advanced training, training for trainers, facilitation, and management council membership) that provides training in conflict resolution techniques to incarcerated individuals. Each of the five training steps is composed of three day-long sessions. Each session is run by a group of inmate facilitators who have completed all AVP steps.
 
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META-ANALYSIS
CITATIONS

Meta-analysis is a statistical method to combine the results from separate studies on a program, policy, or topic to estimate its effect on an outcome. WSIPP systematically evaluates all credible evaluations we can locate on each topic. The outcomes measured are the program impacts measured in the research literature (for example, impacts on crime or educational attainment). Treatment N represents the total number of individuals or units in the treatment group across the included studies.

An effect size (ES) is a standard metric that summarizes the degree to which a program or policy affects a measured outcome. If the effect size is positive, the outcome increases. If the effect size is negative, the outcome decreases. See Estimating Program Effects Using Effect Sizes for additional information on how we estimate effect sizes.

The effect size may be adjusted from the unadjusted effect size estimated in the meta-analysis. Historically, WSIPP adjusted effect sizes to some programs based on the methodological characteristics of the study. For programs reviewed in 2024 or later, we do not make additional adjustments, and we use the unadjusted effect size whenever we run a benefit-cost analysis.

Research shows the magnitude of effects may change over time. For those effect sizes, we estimate outcome-based adjustments, which we apply between the first time ES is estimated and the second time ES is estimated. More details about these adjustments can be found in our Technical Documentation.

Meta-Analysis of Program Effects
Outcomes measured No. of effect sizes Treatment N Effect sizes (ES) and standard errors (SE) Unadjusted effect size (random effects model)
ES SE Age ES p-value
Anger or aggression
Self-reported anger or aggression measured on a validated scale.
30 1 53 -0.453 0.211 30 -0.453 0.031

Citations Used in the Meta-Analysis

Walrath, C. (2001). Evaluation of an inmate-run alternatives to violence project: The impact of inmate-to-inmate intervention. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 16(7), 697-711.