NCJ Number
197811
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 66 Issue: 2 Dated: September 2002 Pages: 28-37
Date Published
September 2002
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article proposes a new paradigm or strategy for improving the community supervision of offenders, based on effective criminological research and theory.
Abstract
The proposed paradigm borrows core insights from environmental criminology, which is a theory that links crime causation and crime reduction to the presence or absence of opportunities to offend. The authors begin by discussing the central ingredients in crime and then making the observation that to reduce recidivism, community supervision must counter each of the ingredients. The particular concern of the authors is with one of the ingredients, i.e., opportunity. The authors advise that the effectiveness of probation and parole supervision will be increased to the extent that officers systematically work with offenders, family and community members, and the police to reduce the extent to which offenders are tempted by and come into contact with opportunities for crime. Officers should assess the role that particular opportunities play in each probationer's or parolee's offending, disrupt offenders' routine activities that increase crime opportunities, work with the offender's family to determine which aspects of an offender's routine create the greatest opportunities for offending, solicit the help of various persons likely to observe the offender in places or engaging in behavior that creates opportunities for offending, and seek the cooperation of the police to assist in the enforcement of curfews and restrictions on where offenders are allowed to travel or "hang out." 1 table, 1 figure, and 84 references