Contemporary Modes of Probation Officer Supervision: The Triumph of the “Synthetic” Officer?

This article considers the continued relevance of law enforcement and social worker roles to probation officer practice, a central motif in community corrections scholarship. It also considers how these traditional functions are integrated into community-oriented supervision practices, increasingly emphasized in policy circles. Using Latent Class Analysis of data from a national community corrections survey, a four-class typology of probation officers was developed, based on their supervision practices. While classes vary according to the intensity of supervision, particularly in the engagement of third parties (family, community, and the police), there are no classes that correspond either to law enforcers or to social workers. Rather, officer classes are all “synthetic”—combining law enforcement and social work functions together in the same strategy. The analysis identifies a number of predictors of membership in more intensive supervision classes. These relate to ideological orientations, caseload characteristics, officer demographics, and agency progressiveness.     

Paying to Be Punished: A Statutory Analysis of Sex Offender Registration Fees

Over the last 20 years, sex offender policies, specifically in terms of community corrections, have increased in scope. One of the most controversial and pervasive sex offender policies is that of registration. In response to the consumption of already limited resources, jurisdictions have imposed increasingly higher community supervision fees onto the offenders, requiring them to pay for their own re-entry. However, to date no research study has examined the statutory language associated with registration fees collected post release from formal community sanctions. Using a statutory analysis within the United States, this research finds and quantifies the imposition of a registration fee on offenders who are legally compelled to pay these registration costs, regardless of whether they are still currently under community supervision. Results show that more than half of U.S. states (n?=?28) incorporate statutory language authorizing registration fees, ranging anywhere from $5 per registration to up to $250 per year. These findings, as well as suggestions for future research and policy recommendations, are discussed.     

Community re-entry and the path toward desistance: A quasi-experimental longitudinal study of dynamic factors and community risk management of adult sex offenders

PurposeA successful community re-entry is a step toward desistance from sex offending. The re-entry phase is critical because it can trigger dynamic risk factors that can lead to a re-offense. In that context, community risk management is seen as pivotal to moderate the impact of community re-entry and associated stressors. The current study, therefore, examines the dynamic factors associated with a successful community re-entry, taking into account the type of community supervision offenders were subjected to.MethodologyThis prospective longitudinal study is based on a quasi-experimental research design where offenders (n = 169) were subjected to different types of community supervision (intensive supervision versus regular probation services). Community re-entry outcomes were assessed through the presence of technical violations and/or a new criminal offence.FindingsCox proportional hazards showed that offenders with negative community re-entry outcomes were younger, at-risk of sexual violence, under intensive community supervision, and had more negative social influences and self-regulation deficits. Of importance, intensive community supervision significantly moderated the impact of negative social influences but negatively impacted those with self-regulation deficits.ConclusionsThe study provides evidence that dynamic risk factors are important during re-entry and may operate differently under different supervisory conditions.     

Community hierarchy of needs and policing models: toward a new theory of police organizational behavior

This study explains the influences of environmental variables on the emergence of varying policing models. It empirically tests a new perspective on the influences of community variations to police organizational behaviours and practices among local police departments in the U.S. Using the U.S. Census, the Uniform Crime Reports and the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics data, the study tests a perspective suggesting that community hierarchy of needs influences the degree level of the implementation of different models of policing, particularly community policing. The study presents constructs to operationalize hierarchy of needs. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine the relationships of hierarchy of needs, organizational factors, and other control variables to police departments’ pursuit of different policing models. Findings suggest that community hierarchy of needs and organizational factors significantly constrain the departments’ implementation of policing models. Lower hierarchy of needs tends to be associated with pursuit of traditional policing while a community with higher level needs tend to pursue community policing. Similarly, organizational complexities influence the implementation of different policing models.     

美国社区矫正体制的中间制裁制度

美国社区矫正体制的中间制裁制度始兴于20世纪80年代,是一种惩罚程度介于监狱监禁和传统的缓刑、假释之间的社区化行刑方式。作为社区矫正罪犯数量增加和社区公共安全保障的妥协产物,具有一定惩罚性的中间制裁主要包括严密的缓刑和假释监督、住宅禁闭与电子监控、军训式矫正中心、日报告中心、返回社区训练所、日罚金和社区服务等类型,以分层控制体系实现保障社区安全和改造罪犯的双重目的。各种制裁措施的适用依据是罪犯的罪行严重程度、矫治和服务需要。中间制裁的应用取得了一定成效,但也引发了一些问题。     

White collar offenders under community supervision

This article presents an analysis of the beliefs held by federal probation officers concerning their role in supervising white collar offenders. The major finding is that this supervision is regarded by most officers as “going through the motions.” It is suggested that this attitude is in part due to the class standing and lifestyle of the typical white collar offender as it is perceived by probation officers. The question raised is whether community supervision of white collar offenders makes any sense, especially given the interactional patterns that typically develop between white collar offenders and their probation officers, which may facilitate denial of criminality by these offenders.     

论后金融危机时代金融监管国际合作的组织机制——全球金融集体安全机制构建思考之一

金融全球化呼唤金融监管国际合作,而金融监管国际合作需要国际金融监管组织。鉴于目前的国际社会结构,国际金融监管组织只能是国家间组织,而非超国家组织。由于现有的国际金融组织都不足以担当金融监管国际合作的历史使命,国际社会需要创建一个全新的国际金融监管组织。这一全新的国际金融监管组织应该具有以下组织形态特征:第一,它应该是一个全球性的、开放性的、专门性的、政府间的金融监管组织;第二,它应该是一个能够凸显国际关系民主化的金融监管组织;第三,它应该是一个具有横向综合监管职能的金融监管组织。     

Judges’ Perceptions of Screening,Assessment, Prevention,and Treatment for Substance Use, Mental Health,and HIV among Juveniles on Community Supervision: Results of a National Survey

Juvenile Justice‐Translational Research on Interventions for Adolescents in the Legal System (JJ‐TRIALS) National Survey was funded in part to describe the current status of screening, assessment, prevention and treatment for substance use, mental health, and HIV for youth on community supervision within the US juvenile justice system. Surveys were administered to community supervision agencies and their primary behavioral healthcare providers, as well as the juvenile or family court judge with the largest caseload of youth on community supervision. This article presents the findings from the judges’ survey. Survey results indicated juvenile and family court judges were open to innovations for improving the court's performance, rated their relationships with collaborators highly, and appreciated the impact of screening, assessment, prevention, and treatment on judicial practices.     

The effect of imprisonment on recommitment: an analysis using exact,coarsened exact,and radius matching with the propensity score

Objectives

This study examines the effect of prison versus community sanctions on recommitment to prison and compares two levels of community supervision, community control (house arrest) and probation, evaluating whether the findings are contingent on the type of matching methods used in the analysis.

Methods

Logistic regression was conducted on unmatched and matched samples. Exact, coarsened exact, and radius-matching procedures were used to create a selection on observables design. Matching variables included current offense, demographics, criminal history, supervision violations, and a rich set of Florida Sentencing Guidelines information culled from an official scoring sheet. Florida judges use this instrument to sentence offenders within the framework of the state determinate sentencing system.

Results

The results show that with exact matching, there is no effect of imprisonment on recommitment, while the other procedures suggest a specific deterrent effect of imprisonment. All four analysis methods showed that offenders under community control are more likely to reoffend than those under normal probation. Analyses between the matched and unmatched prison observations demonstrate that the matched set of prisoners is composed of offenders who have less extensive criminal records and less serious conviction offenses than unmatched offenders regardless of the matching algorithm.

Conclusions

Contrary to a prior analysis of these data, which found a criminogenic effect of prison, a null effect was found using exact matching. Comparing the matching procedures, the more precise the match the less likely there was an effect of prison. However, community control was criminogenic regardless of the matching procedure.

     

Community Correction Officer Perceptions Of Ex-Offender Reentry Needs And Challenges

Research into community corrections officers’ perceptions of the needs of ex-offenders has largely been overlooked. While some empirical research has emerged regarding federal parole officers’ perceptions, it is conceptually incomplete. A gap in the literature remains regarding the concordance or discordance between offenders and community corrections officers’ perceptions of offender needs and the opportunities for success upon release. Using a sample of community corrections officers in Seattle, Washington, this research examined officer perception of ex-offender needs, the value officers’ placed on the specific needs, and the opportunities available for offenders to meet their needs. Differences between officers emerged including the finding that female officers rated needs and challenges for offenders significantly different than male officers. Policy implications of the research are discussed. This research was made possible due to a grant award from the College of Arts and Sciences at Seattle University. This research was first presented at the 2005 Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Conference in Chicago. We are grateful to Mac Pevey and Keven Bovenkamp from the Washington State Department of Corrections and Bill Corn and Tim McTighe from United States Probation and Pretrial Services for their support, assistance, and for making the study possible. A special thanks to our research assistant Tania Reyes who was instrumental in collecting the data for this investigation.     

Intensive supervision programs: Does program philosophy and the principles of effective intervention matter?

Although traditional intensive supervision programs that have aimed at increasing control and surveillance in the community have not been shown to reduce recidivism, prior research indicates that intensive supervision programs that are based on a human service philosophy and provide treatment to offenders offer more promise. The current research examined the effectiveness of fifty-eight intensive supervision programs and sought to determine whether program philosophy and treatment integrity are associated with reductions in recidivism. The results indicated that both program philosophy and treatment integrity vary independently of one another and are related to the ability of programs to produce meaningful effects on recidivism.     

Making the case for school-based health: where do we stand?

School-based health centers (SBHCs) have proliferated rapidly nation-wide and remain politically popular. This article explores the disconnect between the evidence and the discourse on SBHCs, drawing upon the authors' evaluation of SBHCs in Newark, New Jersey, and a critical assessment of the evaluative literature and public discourse on school clinics to argue that a number of important issues are being overlooked by both research and advocacy. These issues include variations in the health needs and health care resources of different communities and the questions of whether and how SBHCs can best integrate with existing resources to fill unmet local needs. Furthermore, despite the cautions of experts that third-party reimbursement (via traditional fee-for-service insurance or participation in health maintenance organizations) cannot cover clinic expenses and is difficult to obtain, pursuit of reimbursement continues to be a goal of some SBHC sponsors, helping to promote a clinic model that in some communities is very likely not to be the best way to address student needs or to build on clinic strengths. Discussion around SBHCs should focus on diagnosing specific community needs, identifying the best approach to meeting those needs, and seeking funding sources that match the work that needs to be done.     

BOOT CAMP PRISONS AND RECIDIVISM IN EIGHT STATES*

Recidivism reduction is an important objective of many correctional programs. Recent survey data suggest that boot camp prisons (also referred to as shock incarceration programs) are no exception. In this study, we examine recidivism among boot camp completers in eight states during community supervision. We then assess these recidivism patterns in light of how one or more comparison groups in each state perform. For most states, two or more recidivism measures (such as arrest and revocation) are employed. The analysis suggests that those who complete boot camp do not inevitably perform either better or worse than their comparison group counterparts. Rather, program effectiveness has to be judged on a state-bystate basis.     

Punishment and Paperwork: White-Collar Offenders Under Community Supervision

This article examines how changes in penal ideology may affect the experiences of white-collar offenders under community supervision. In-depth interviews with white-collar offenders on their experiences while under federal probation are used to examine how changes in criminal punishment have undermined the traditional reintegrative and rehabilitative goals of community supervision. The analysis suggests that shifts to a more managerial, actuarial model that seeks depersonalized efficiency has unintended consequences that delegitimatize the criminal justice system, and foster sentiments of degradation. Based on these findings, considerations for future research are discussed.     

Recidivism and the Propensity to Forgo Parole Release

This study investigates whether inmates who are unconditionally released at the end of their sentence because they opt out of the parole process could potentially benefit from community supervision. This research was conducted in response to a recently passed law in the state of New Jersey that targets this group for a mandatory six-month term of parole. The study uses propensity scores to match this group to discretionarily released parolees in order to simulate random assignment. Results indicate that those who voluntarily forgo parole consideration are significantly less successful after release according to several measures of recidivism, including rearrests, reconvictions, and community tenure. However, between-group differences are small. Findings suggest that some form of supervision may be beneficial for this group, but likely not in the fashion that is explicated in the current law.     

Identifying the Needs of American Indian Women Who Sought Shelter: A Practitioner-Researcher Partnership

American Indian women across all ages are significantly more likely than women of other ethnic groups to be victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Despite their increased risk of interpersonal violence, there are few published studies or reports that explicitly examine the needs of victimized American Indian women. Therefore, both researchers and service providers know very little about the multifaceted needs of victimized American Indian women and whether current community services are meeting the needs of victimized native women. Identifying such needs is a logical next step so that victim service agencies can develop and effectively provide services tailored to victimized American Indian women. This commentary addresses these gaps by (1) identifying the needs of American Indian women in a domestic violence shelter in Arizona, and (2) highlighting the researcher-practitioner partnership that made it possible to gain access to these victims. Drawing on survey responses from 37 American Indian female clients and interviews with 10 staff members, the findings reveal that the domestic violence agency service provider is meeting many of their needs. Findings also indicate that clients have a wide variety of specific personal needs (e.g., safety, housing, transportation), needs relating to their children (e.g., safety, education, socialization), community needs (e.g., relating to their tribe), as well as legal needs (e.g., help obtaining a restraining order or divorce). These multifaceted needs are discussed and specific recommendations are provided for successful researcher-practitioner partnerships.     

监督,能否与法治兼容——从法治立场来反思监督制度

监督究竟是不是法治的范畴?它能否与法治兼容?中国传统监督制度历来发达并有顽强的生命力,其内在结构是一种权力关系“叠床架屋”式的堆砌。本文考察总结了这种传统模式的固有特征:容易治标,却难以治本;权力范围广泛,却非规范化;监督者大义凛然高风亮节,却把制度依赖于监督主体及个人的因素;监督操作灵活,但制度运作效果缺乏稳定性。认为传统监督制度实为人治底下的制度模式。如果传统监督制度不改造成现代监督制度,监督永远只是被法治所排斥的一种另类怪异的制度。所以需要对监督制度进行根本性的转变:根据法治原理与立场,以分权制约和正当程序为原则,以法治的方式进行监督制度的变革和运行,将传统的监督制度纳入法治系统,使其成为法治内在的构成部分。     

The Needs of Women Offenders

Abstract

Recent corrections research indicates that programs and community services providing assistance and training for women offenders are lacking. Using a sample of 402 female felony offenders, women's needs, including those thought to be criminogenic (i.e., characteristics and circumstances that heighten an individual's recidivism risk), are examined to determine whether certain groups of women possess similar sets of needs. Cluster analysis is used to identify combinations of needs shared within subgroups of female felons. Identification of common and co-occurring needs, particularly those associated with high risk for recidivism, can assist program staff, advocates for women offenders, and correctional administrators in determining what combination of program elements should be available to women, and the degree to which programming must address multiple domains.     

Community supervision,prosocial activities,and recidivism

Research studying the relationship between intensity of community supervision and recidivism leads to two possible conclusions: (1) there is no consistent relationship, or (2) the relationship is indirect. In this paper we consider a theoretical model that is consistent with the latter possibility. Increased intensity of supervision is hypothesized to increase involvement in conventional and therapeutic activities; this, in turn, should be associated with a reduction in future offending. We examined the viability of this connection using data from four states, and drew the following conclusions: (1) intensity of supervision is associated positively with involvement in prosocial activities; (2) intensity of supervision is not associated consistently with involvement in new criminal activities; and (3) an inverse association exists between involvement in prosocial activities and involvement in new criminal activities after adjusting for measured factors that are thought to affect both outcomes.     

挑战与应对:民行检察监督制度的新发展

民行检察监督制度获得强力推进的基本依据便是司法实践中不断增长的监督诉求,监督的范围在逐渐扩大,内含于监督中的观念性因素也在此过程中悄然转变,监督理念的现代化更新为监督制度的可持续发展提供了新的泉源基础。目前所需着力实现的制度转轨集中表现在从有限监督到全面监督、从实体监督到程序监督以及从诉讼监督到社会监督等三大转向之上,由此呈现出民行检察监督制度新发展的完整风貌。