Community Corrections: A Powerful Field

• NCJ Number: 226307
• Journal: Corrections Today Volume: 70 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2008 Pages: 68-72
• Author(s): Matthew DeMichele; Mario Paparozzi
• Date Published: October 2008
• Length: 5 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2006-DD-BX-K023
• Sponsoring Agency: Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Instructional Material
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article addresses several issues related to the increasing community corrections population and the potential impact this has on probation/parole officer workloads.

Abstract

In order to address these conditions, corrections administrators should engage in more collaborative efforts with justice and nonjustice organizations; use supervision strategies that combine surveillance, treatment, and enforcement; individualize supervision conditions; and recognize the power of community corrections’ resources to improve public safety. Increased collaboration across the criminal justice system would enhance the ability of subsystems such as community corrections to maximize limited resources and better manage workloads. In promoting their public safety and justice mission, community corrections agencies should seek to balance rehabilitative and punitive techniques of supervision. Strategies that use both rehabilitative and punitive resources must integrate treatment, surveillance, and enforcement. Community corrections administrators must identify effective, proven, and efficient interventions geared to the needs of individual offenders and develop a continuum of responses to offender behavior, which can be punitive or rewarding. Community corrections agencies should be mindful, however, that punitive correctional practices alone do not reduce recidivism; programs that focus on education, vocation, and employment training have been proven to reduce recidivism. Also, programs designed to alter criminogenic thinking patterns (cognitive-behavioral treatment) improve community supervision. Supervision approaches that combine skills training with structured treatment improve offender behavior. Regarding workload standards and public safety, there is a universal model that can work. The model requires a determination of the case outcomes desired by a particular jurisdiction. Once outcomes are identified, the model requires that evidence-based methods for achieving the outcomes be developed. These methods should include information about workload requirements. Finally, the model requires community corrections agencies to evaluate how well, or if, the desired outcomes were achieved. 18 notes