Recording Operational Procedures - Flow Charting a Community Service Restitution Program

• NCJ Number: 73007
• Author(s): J H Buerge
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 26 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper presented at the Fourth Symposium on Restitution and Community Service Sentencing, Minneapolis, Minnesota, September 24-26, 1980.

Annotation

Flow charting is offered as a tool for criminal justice administrators and managers to assist them in developing and operating alternative programs, with examples drawn from the Elkhart County community service program (Indiana).

Abstract

The rationale for using flow charts is outlined, with mention of such advantages of the process as improving management techniques, its visual impact on understanding systems, and its ability to assist in planning. Basic elements and the fundamentals of flow charting are decribed, with explanations of the graphic chart, the symbols most commonly used, and the narrative used. Discussion then turns to Elkhart County's PACT, a community-based corrections agency which operates the Community Service Restitution Program and the Victim-Offender Reconciliation Program in the county. Ways in which PACT is working in Elkhart County are indicated, and reasons for establishing community service restitution in Elkhart County are presented. The process used by the program is examined, and the flow chart developed to illustrate that process is described, complete with a depiction of the symbols and narrative that accompany the graphic chart. Three footnotes are provided.