NCJ Number
84900
Date Published
1969
Length
35 pages
Annotation
Findings are presented from a study designed to clarify the role of the corrections administrator, the problems encountered by the administrator, and the knowledge and skill required for the effective performance of administrative duties.
Abstract
Questionnaire responses were received from a sample of 393 administrators in 14 types of organizational settings. Administrators were asked to identify the current goals of their organizations and to indicate which goals should receive greater emphasis. Findings indicated that generally the greatest emphasis in corrections is on treatment, followed by the reintegration of the offender into the community and restraint, in that order. Most thought that restraint should be fairly strongly emphasized but slightly less than it is, and most thought that both treatment and reintegration should be emphasized much more than they are. Findings indicate that if new goals of corrections are to be understood and pursued and if the changes in the agency programs requisite to the new goals are to be implemented, corrections administrators must become more cosmopolitan in their understanding of management precepts, relevant social science theory and methodology, and the distribution of power and resources in American society. Almost all administrators in the sample deplored the lack of time for planning, for the study of trends in corrections and management theory, and for time alone to think. The problem believed by the administrators to be most serious was obtaining evaluative research on the effectiveness of programs. Twenty-seven footnotes are listed.