There is a large literature examining public attitudes toward offenders, but fewer studies have examined the perceptions held by criminal justice actors. While many projects evaluate the role orientations of these staff, research rarely investigates the beliefs these individuals hold about the offenders they work with. This study addresses this gap through a survey of probation and parole staff, measuring how their attitudes toward the clients they work with influence supervision strategies, role orientations, job burnout and stress, and the use of case management tools. Results indicate that probation and parole staff who are generally pessimistic about offenders and see crime as a personal choice are more compliant with assessment and case management tools, while officers who are optimistic about offenders' ability to change and see crime as a consequence of circumstance are more likely to be noncompliant with the data entry process in the completion of risk and needs instruments. These findings provide important insights into the motivations of community corrections staff and suggest that work is needed to translate best practices into routine practices.
Actuarial assessment has become an integral component of offender management, helping to structure the decision-making of correctional staff about offenders' case plans. Despite research validating instruments and documenting best practices in offender assessment, fewer studies explore how practitioners use these diagnostic and case management tools. Using survey data from a sample of probation and parole staff, the current study examines the influence of professional characteristics, job burnout and stress, and supervision strategy preferences on noncompliance with assessment data entry and deviations from the tools' risk and needs recommendations. Results indicate various forms of noncompliance with case management tools are fairly common. Staff with greater tenure and heightened depersonalization and emotional exhaustion exhibit greater odds of assessment noncompliance. Case managers who adopt surveillance and rehabilitation supervisory tactics are less likely to deviate from the tools' processes and results, while staff who prefer opportunity-reduction strategies have increased odds of assessment noncompliance.
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