NCJ Number
13239
Date Published
1973
Length
41 pages
Annotation
RESULTS OF AN EXPERIMENT TO DETERMINE PAROLE OFFICERS' ATTITUDES TOWARD A STATISTICAL GUIDE FOR INDIVIDUAL CASE DECISION-MAKING.
Abstract
AT A NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PAROLE DECISION-MAKING PARTICIPANTS WERE RANDOMLY ALLOCATED TO SIX GROUPS AND ASKED TO MAKE DECISIONS ABOUT A SET OF HYPOTHETICAL CASE SUMMARIES, SOME WITH AND SOME WITHOUT A BASE EXPECTANCY SCORE ITEM. UNKNOWN TO THE PARTICIPANTS, DIFFERENT GROUPS RECEIVED THE SAME CASES WITH DIFFERENT BASE EXPECTANCY SCORES. WHILE THE PRESENTATION OF A BASE EXPECTANCY SCORE DID NOT APPEAR TO REDUCE THE VARIATIONS IN THE DECISIONS WITHIN THE VARIOUS EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS, THE PRESENTATION OF DIFFERENT BASE EXPECTANCY SCORES FOR THE SAME CASE DID APPEAR TO SHIFT THE AVERAGE TIME HELD BEFORE RELEASE. INCLUDED ARE THE RESULTS OF EACH GROUP'S RANKING AND THE CASE SUMMARIES USED IN THE EVALUATION.