NCJ Number
68504
Date Published
1979
Length
24 pages
Annotation
RESULTS AND IMPLICATIONS FROM A RESEARCH STUDY ON THE ATTRIBUTIONAL FACTORS AFFECTING PAROLE DECISIONMAKING ARE DISCUSSED.
Abstract
A STUDY BY CARROLL AND PAYNE (1977A) SHOWED THAT ATTRIBUTIONS (JUDGMENTS ABOUT THE CHARACTER OF SUBJECT AND THE CAUSES OF HIS/HER CRIME) CONSTITUTED THE SINGLE LARGEST CATEGORY OF JUDGMENTS IN PAROLE DECISIONMAKING. IN AN EFFORT TO DETERMINE THE PATTERNS OF JUDGMENTS IN THE ATTRIBUTIONAL CATEGORY, 64 COLLEGE STUDENTS AND 24 EXPERT PAROLE DECISIONMAKERS FOR THE PENNSYLVANIA BOARD OF PROBATION AND PAROLE WERE GIVEN EIGHT BRIEF CRIME REPORTS. EACH REPORT CONTAINED ONE PIECE OF BACKGROUND INFORMATION THAT SUGGESTED THE CAUSE OF THE CRIME. SUBJECTS WERE ASKED TO RESPOND TO A BATTERY OF QUESTIONS REGARDING CRIME SERIOUSNESS, SUGGESTED PRISON TERM, PREDICTIONS ABOUT RECIDIVISM, ETC. COLLEGE STUDENT JUDGMENTS SHOWED THAT INTERNAL CAUSES (CAUSES APPARENTLY GENERATED BY THE OFFENDER HIMSELF) GENERALLY PRODUCE MORE BLAME AND PUNISHMENT FROM THE DECISIONMAKER THAN DID PERCEPTIONS OF EXTERNAL CAUSES (CAUSES PRODUCED BY ENVIRONMENT OR CIRCUMSTANCE). STABLE CAUSES (CAUSES PERCEIVED AS UNLIKELY TO CHANGE) LED TO PREDICTIONS OF MORE FUTURE CRIME AND A DESIRE TO INCAPACITATE THE OFFENDER, WHEN COMPARED WITH UNSTABLE CAUSES (TEMPORARY CIRCUMSTANCES). THE EXPERTS TREATED INTERNAL, STABLE CAUSES AS MORE SERIOUS IN ALL WAYS THAN OTHER CAUSES. THE EXPERTS WERE ALSO SHOWN TO HAVE INDIVIDUALIZED GOALS FOR THE PAROLE PROCESS, WITH SOME CONSIDERING REHABILITATION AND OTHERS INCAPACITATION OR SPECIAL DETERRENCE. GIVEN THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ATTRIBUTION CATEGORY OF JUDGMENTS IN PAROLE DECISIONMAKING, GENERALLY BASED ON DECISIONMAKERS' ASSUMPTIONS OF WHAT CAUSES AND CURES CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR, DECISIONMAKING GUIDELINES SHOULD BE CLARIFIED IN THIS AREA. BIASES CAN THEN BE EXPOSED AND FALSE ASSUMPTIONS CONFRONTED. GRAPHIC AND TABULAR DATA ARE PROVIDED.