NCJ Number
49413
Date Published
1959
Length
78 pages
Annotation
THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO IDENTIFY AND PREDICT INDIVIDUAL REACTION TO AND OVERT CONFORMITY WITH ACCEPTED SOCIAL STANDARDS BY PAROLEES FROM A NEW JERSEY MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON.
Abstract
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MANIPULATION AND VERBALIZATION WITH RESPECT TO SYMBOLIC OBJECTS AND THE OVERT ADJUSTMENT TO ACCEPTED SOCIAL STANDARDS IN WESTERN CULTURE WAS COMPARED. THE FORMER WAS MEASURED BY A PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUE -- THE KAHN TEST OF SYMBOL ARRANGEMENT -- WHILE THE LATTER WAS MEASURED AGAINST THE RULES AND REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE ADMINISTRATION OF PAROLE IN THE STATE. THE KAHN TEST WAS ADMINISTERED TO 60 INMATES SELECTED JUST PRIOR TO THEIR RELEASE ON PAROLE IN 1956. SIX MONTHS AFTER THEIR RELEASE, A QUESTIONNAIRE WAS FILLED OUT BY SUPERVISING PAROLE OFFICERS. THE 20 SUBJECTS PICKED BY RANDOM SAMPLING WERE COMPARED ON THE NULL HYPOTHESIS WITH THE OTHER 40 PAROLEES. STATISTICAL TREATMENT UPHELD THE NULL HYPOTHESIS; THAT IS, THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO PREDICT THE OVERT CONFORMITY OF A PAROLEE FROM STATE PRISON WHO HAS BEEN PAROLED ON HIS INITIAL APPEARANCE BEFORE THE PAROLE BOARD. A COMPARISON OF THIS INMATE GROUP WITH A 1935 GROUP FROM THE SAME PRISON SHOWED A VARIED PICTURE. BOTH GROUPS SHOWED A SIGNIFICANT RACIAL DIFFERENCE WITH RESPECT TO VIOLATIONS OF PAROLE, WITH WHITES HAVING A SMALLER NUMBER OF PAROLE VIOLATIONS. IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT A RELATIONSHIP EXISTS BETWEEN THE INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR OF PAROLEES FROM A NEW JERSEY PRISON AND THE OVERT ADJUSTMENT TO ACCEPTED STANDARDS OF SOCIETY AS REPRESENTED BY THE RULES OF PAROLE. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH ARE PROVIDED. THE SURVEY INSTRUMENT IS APPENDED. TABULAR DATA AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY ARE INCLUDED. (KBL)