NCJ Number
146869
Date Published
1993
Length
296 pages
Annotation
Rather than attempting to measure the success or failure of the penal system's technical operations, this study focused on the institution itself by examining its efforts to define and present itself, to itself, its clients, and the public. The study focused on the use of parole as a punishment and a means to exert power.
Abstract
The first part of the study traces the development of parole from its inception in the late 19th Century to its present configuration in the 1970's. The author identifies disciplinary and clinical parole as the two distinct models. The second part of the study focuses on the political and social conditions of parole from the mid-1970's to the present, during which time a third model --managerial parole - - was implemented. Unlike the first two models, which aimed to protect the public while reintegrating the offender into society, this model is driven by a technocratic need to meet internally set performance standards. The final section examines the strains on managerial parole that were appearing during the course of this study, conducted in California during the late 1980's and early 1990's. The principal symptom of trouble was the growing proportion of parolees among the prison population in that State. Chapter references