NCJ Number
180965
Journal
Law & Society Review Volume: 32 Issue: 4 Dated: 1998 Pages: 839-869
Date Published
1998
Length
31 pages
Annotation
This ethnographic research examines a “new penology” paradigm at the implementation level, where agents are subject to competing pressures to be tough on crime as well as successful risk managers.
Abstract
Agents embraced for themselves a traditional law enforcement role that primarily takes an individualistic approach to the clientele and an intuitive approach to their management, rather than taking on the new penological role of actuarial risk managers defined by upper management. The agents were influenced by the popular discourse on crime in defining their priorities and actively subverted management directives to reorder those priorities. The agents in this setting did not appear poised to become mere human “waste managers.” The article suggests that the agents did not reject a new penological role per se but simply lacked confidence in the methods to do the job effectively. Prior research indicates a general pattern of resistance to actuarial classification among probation and parole officers and other such professionals. Notes, references