NCJ Number
156846
Date Published
1994
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This video provides guidelines for correctional staff in writing incident reports.
Abstract
The format consists of lecture and charts that outline the presentation, along with displays of participant exercises. The lecturer first discusses the importance and benefit of report- writing, which include documentation of incidents in the event of related lawsuits and clarification of the situation. Some guidelines for writing are to know what you want to write, to assess readers' needs, to anticipate questions, to use language that is clearly understood, and to provide a complete report. A complete report contains who was involved in the incident in any way, what happened, where it occurred, when it happened (date and time), how events unfolded, why they occurred, and any action taken. The four "C's" mentioned for report-writing are conciseness, clarity, completeness, and correctness. Each of these topics is explained and illustrated through writing samples. Some common errors in report-writing are also outlined.