Screening Devices in Probation and Parole: Management Problems (From Contemporary Community Corrections, Second Edition, P 123-140, 1996, Thomas Ellsworth - See NCJ-163569)

• NCJ Number: 163571
• Author(s): T R Clear; K W Gallagher
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 18 pages
• Sale Source: Waveland Press, Inc.
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Reprinted by permission from Evaluation Review, V 7, N 2 (April 1983), 217-234

Annotation

This chapter discusses the importance of using an offender classification system in conjunction with an agency's stated mission, available resources, and environment when evaluating candidates for probation or parole.

Abstract

Risk screening involves the assessment of a client's potential for risk behavior, usually rearrest prior to termination of supervision, using an instrument that evaluates the client's background and current situation. Several examples of assessment forms and rating procedures are included in the article. Risk screening raises a number of management issues, from selection of cut-off and supervision policy to reorganization of staff and workload. The general quality of management in probation and parole must be sufficient to use these devices, which are administrative tools even more than they are casework aids. Administrators who are familiar with both the method and practice of screening will learn how to operate screening systems as managerial tools, will anticipate potential problems, and will elaborate on existing practices to find total systems that suit their agency's needs. Tables, notes, references