Failure of Correctional Management - Reconsidered

• NCJ Number: 83338
• Journal: Criminal Justice Review Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: (Fall 1981) Pages: 55-61
• Author(s): A W Cohn
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 7 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Adapted from a paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Washington, D.C., November 1981.

Annotation

The third in a series of articles discussing the state-of-the-art of correctional management, this work focuses on additional reasons for the failure of corrections in terms of staffs, clients, organizations, and communities.

Abstract

The current status of correctional management can be described at best as being at a crossroads and at worst as being in dismal disrepair. The reasons for such failure have been attributed to such factors as lack of goals and objectives, no clear body of knowledge upon which to base mission, political naivete, bureaucratization, and no acceptable referent group for the establishment of standards of practice. Additional reasons for failure include administrative strains, changing goals, diminished resources, defensive strategies, desire for professionalization, poor adaptive responses, and career protection. The correctional manager who wants to lead on organization must be concerned with setting appropriate and measurable goals, meshing worker and organizational needs, directing programmatic efforts, and dealing with the routine strains that beset the manager from both internal and external sources. The future of correctional management is not seen as likely to improve without substantial changes in managerial outlook, abilities, and skills. One footnote, 8 reference notes, and 67 references are provided. (Author summary modified)