Success on Parole - Results of a One-Year Longitudinal Study of Influences on Parole Behavior - Phase 2 Report

• NCJ Number: 79344
• Author(s): M Wiederanders; C Cross-Drew; D W Tsue
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 55 pages
• Grant Number(s): BM-3
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Corrections
• Corporate Author: California Dept of the Youth Authority
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Research report number 81-4.

Annotation

This report details the results of the second phase of a three-phase study by the California Youth Authority which examines life events leading some parolees to parole success rather than to failure and reincarceration.

Abstract

A sample of 209 wards were interviewed shortly before parole and again while on parole, and then were followed up for 1 year to see whether interview items could be used to predict parole behavior. The preparole and parole-period interviews covered three periods: (1) preincarceration, including questions about family, peers, early offense history, role models, school, and employment; (2) incarceration, with questions about peers, staff, education and training programs, violence, visits, counseling, and expectations for parole; and (3) parole, with items about family, peers, employment, schooling, and the parole agent-client relationship. Demographic and other background information from centralized files provided additional information about each ward in the cohort. While incarcerated, most wards reported that at least one staff member had taken a special interest in them and that they 'felt safe' in their dorms. However, less than half reported having training in job finding and career planning, and many wards received few or no visits from parents. Other results are also reported. The ability of the interview data to predict two measures of parole behavior was tested in a series of multivariate analyses. These two measures were 'streettime percent,' the proportion of the first 12 months of parole that each person spent outside of jail, prison, or other confinement; and 'productive percent,' the proportion of the first 12 months of parole spent in school or employed out of one's total streettime. Implications to theory and policy are discussed in terms of the optimal point in youth authority careers for making predictions, the fact that wards gave fairly positive evaluations of programs and staff, the powerful impact of localities on parole outcomes, the concept of identifiable behavior patterns leading to parole problems, and the unexpected lack of relationship between social class indicators and parole behavior measures. Tables, footnotes, 14 references, a map, and a copy of a privacy notification are provided. (Author abstract modified)