NCJ Number
98937
Date Published
1984
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the requisites for successful use of State policy groups in the Prison Overcrowding Project (POP).
Abstract
The effectiveness of State policy groups in accomplishing major statewide changes depends on the clarity of mission, adequate staff support and involvement, strong leadership, the quality and representativeness of policy group membership, and the use of participatory group process. General principles for working with POP policy groups include the use of (1) good work habits at group meetings, (2) small groups and group process techniques, and (3) a full range of techniques for moving from ideas to decisions. The policy group should clarify prison overcrowding issues and set objectives before attempting to agree on options for controlling prison overcrowding. A strategy must also be developed to facilitate the group's reaching consensus on a best set of policy and program options. Force Field Analysis, one technique for reaching consensus on policy options, involves small groups within the larger policy group brainstorming to identify the forces that contribute to the control of overcrowding as well as those that impede such control. Each group develops promising strategies, and the chair appoints task forces for each major strategy grouping, followed by task force recommendations to the policy group and the group's adoption of strategy options. After the adoption of options, the policy group enters the implementation phase of its work.