NCJ Number
81220
Date Published
1981
Length
35 pages
Annotation
The report from the Improved Correctional Field Services Project (ICFS) -- a project developed to test the effectiveness of using risk-screening procedures to assign probationers to different supervision levels -- addresses research issues associated with the use of social adjustment as a probation outcome measure.
Abstract
Most correctional research has traditionally focused on offender recidivism as the critical or sole measure of the effectiveness of correctional programs. The ICFS incorporated social adjustment as an additional indicator of project outcome. The ICFS project operated simultaneously in three probation settings (Florida, Illinois, and New York) between 1978 and 1980. Social adjustment, along with recidivism, was used to examine the effects of various levels of probation supervision when combined with different risk classifications. Social adjustment, as defined in ICFS and measured by two instruments, refers to the supervising probation officer's rating of a probationer's adjustment and progress in certain behavioral areas. The focus on changing behavior while the basic personality remains the same. The Probation Adjustment Scales (I and II) were developed from discussions with probation officers and supervisors at the three participating sites. The scales focus on the major social adjustment areas of employment, personal adjustment, social adjustment, and probation adjustment. While the work on measuring social adjustment is unfinished, a set of variables had been defined, data collection instruments have been developed, and an empirically derived social adjustment score has been proposed. As one interrelated objective of a correctional treatment program, social adjustment is recommended as a measure of program effect. The Probation Adjustment Scale is appended, and a bibliography of 14 listings is provided. For the other reports in this series, see NCJ 81216-19 and NCJ 81221-24.