Family and Community Perceptions of Quality in Juvenile Justice Programs

• NCJ Number: 205524
• Journal: Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Volume: 38 Issue: 3 Dated: 2004 Pages: 31-47
• Author(s): Katherine Selber; Calvin Streeter
• Date Published: 2004
• Length: 17 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

After describing the Gap Model, a potential model for measuring quality of service from the customers' perspective, the model is used to examine service quality as perceived by customers of six juvenile justice programs.

Abstract

The Gap Model was developed in the late 1980's and is still used extensively in private-sector service organizations. The model is based in the conception that quality can be viewed as gaps between what is expected and what is actually delivered as perceived by both the customer and the provider. The Gap Model proposes that the four gaps on the provider side can determine quality as the customer experiences it, and the fifth gap defines the service quality actually received by the customer. The five gaps pertain to customer information, standards, service performance, communications, and service quality. The Gap Model proposes that customer expectations that are higher than perceptions of performance will result in lower levels of quality. Conversely, expectations that have been met or exceeded produce higher levels of quality. At the heart of the model is an instrument called SERVQUAL, which is used to measure customer-focused quality. In applying the model to the juvenile justice programs, two types of customers were defined: families of juveniles and the staff of external programs (policymakers, funders, and agencies in the service network). The mail-out survey yielded 304 customer respondents. The findings indicate that research which quantifies customer expectations of service is as important as customer overall evaluation of the quality of services delivered. The findings also suggest that although what families and community professionals perceive as quality may overlap, these are not always identical. This has implications for how standards of quality are defined. Using only professional standards of quality may miss the opportunity to understand how programs are perceived by and impact families. Overall, this study shows the effectiveness of the Gap Model in including customers' perceptions of program effectiveness in any program evaluation. 4 tables and 31 references