An Evaluation of the American Parole and Probation System - Research Proposal Example

? An Evaluation of the American Parole and Probation System: Research Proposal of Introduction Probation is defined as “a court ordered dispositional alternative through which an adjudicated offender is placed under the control, supervision and care of a probation staff member in lieu of imprisonment, so long as the probationer meets certain standards of the court” (Siegel and Worall, 2012 p65). Probation is an arrangement to give offenders an opportunity to be punished without the normal custodial sentences that comes with similar crimes. Historically, this evolved as more and more people were jailed and jailed become overcrowded. Also, it was the best option for the punishment and reformation of certain people who have committed offenses that cannot be considered to be serious. This is because the traditional custodial sentences are likely to cause more wrong for the offender and the society when compared with probation. Probation therefore keeps a person under the control and management of a probation officer who has the duty to ensure that the offender complies with the terms and requirements placed on him by the courts. A similar form of probation is handed down to convicted prisoners who have spent a portion of their jail terms. This is known as a parole. A parole is “a planned community release and supervision of incarcerated offenders before the expiration of their full prison sentences” (Siegel and Worall, 2012 p67). These two forms of punishments imposed by the courts are meant to promote the integration of offenders back into society and also prevent the unnecessary incarceration of persons in overcrowded jails. The America Probation and Parole Association (APPA) is the national association of parole and probation officers charged with the supervision of offenders who are placed on parole or probation. They are considered to be part of the correctional system, however, they play a significant role in the criminal justice system because they are a link between the correctional system and the legal system (Banks, 2004). The fudamental duties of probational officers include: 1. Supervising offenders 2. Maintaining contacts with parolees and probationers. 3. Provide counseling services for parolees and probationers. 4. Resolve conflict involving the treatment, integration and surveillance of parolees and probationers. 5. Writing reports about probation and paroles for the courts (Banks, 2004). The APPA members are required to exhibition professionalism, uphold the law, work with objectivity, co-operate with relevant professionals, recognize and practice the principles of APPA and maintain public faith in the criminal justice system (Banks, 2004). From these ideals and standards, APPA members and officers are required to work according to very high standards and provide a very effective service to the society. However, in reality, there are significant issues that stand in their way. A lot of these problems are identified in journals and books that were presented by professionals who are related to the criminal justice industry. Some of them are explored below in the literature review. Literature Review “Probation officers supervise two-thirds of all correctional clientele in the United States” (Petersilia, 1997 p149). This means that they have a lot of work to do. And relative to prison officers, they are more burdened in terms of workload (Petersilia, 1997). However, in spite of their effort, they have a limited budget that is much lower than what the prison officers and correctional service officers receive. Also, they are ill-equipped and as such, felons go unsupervised. This gives them an image as lenient officers in the criminal justice system. Petersilia and Turner (1993) studied the intensive supervision program that was instituted in the early 1980s closely. This program allowed parole and probation officers to undertake close survillance, urinalysis testing, treatment and employment of convicted offenders. This was a very strict method of controlling people placed on parole and probation. From the empirical studies, they found this system to be quite inappropriate and out of place. They identified that: 1. It did not decrease the frequency of serious new arrests of probationers and parolees. 2. It increased the incidence of technical violations due to the frequency. 3. It increased the operation costs of the APPA In light of these limitations of the intensive supervision program, Petersilia and Turner (1993) recommended that there should be an array of flexible activities meant to prevent the problems. They stated that there should be an array of sentencing options for people who committed different kinds of crimes. Caroll and Mondrice (1979) studied 243 people who appeared before a parole board over a one year period. It was noticed that the White and Black offenders who appeared were given different treatments. It was identified that the Black convicts had extra criteria to meet before they were given parole. Blacks served significantly longer period in jail before they were brought before the parole board. This shows clearly that there are issues with the racism in the activities of the parole officers. In addition to this research, Gaines identified that African-Americans suffered a severe disadvantage in the criminal justice system because of their socio-economic status (2007). Most of them do not have jobs and in their attempt to reintegrate into the society, they end up going back to crime to survive and they often fail to complete their parole time successfully. Also, most African-American males do not have confidence in the courts and legal system this leads to legal distress and they end up refusing to co-operate with parole officers (Gaines 2007). Bottomley on the other hand identified that the parole system was not effective in preventing people from continuing to commit offenses (1990). In other words, most of the people who were put on probation and/or on parole committed offenses and returned back to jail. This means that the parole and probation officers are not capable of cutting down on the intensity of crime in the United States through their activities and their efforts. Petersilia (1999) continues to state that half of parolees even fail to complete their time. In other words, they take their opportunity to remain in the society to commit more crimes and get back to the prisons. Petersilia (1999) states that this is because the technology used by parole officers are weak and not efficient. He also claims that the risk prediction system of the criminal justice system used by the parole officers are not efficient enough to release people who deserve to be released. On the other hand, he suggests that there is a serious problem with the rehabilitation system of the APPA's systems and structures. Additionally, the recent victim impact statement has proven to be a strong issue in carrying out probation and parole hearings (Roberts, 2009). Although it is the right of most victims to pass up their comments before sentencing, they are often punitive in nature. After they are made, they have an impact on probation hearings and the probation board that discusses the case of offenders. This influences the board and might stand in the way of sound correctional principles and fundamental justice (Roberts, 2009). Also, the new penology system requires APPA members to work as risk managers with very professional standards and high responsibility towards offenders. However, most of the APPA members continue to work as individuals who use intuition rather than scientific methods and systems (Lynch, 1998). Research Questions From the literature review, a number of issues are inherent in the parole and probational services. They include: 1. Lack of professionalism 2. Lack of funding 3. Presence of racism in the criminal justice system 4. Use of tough measures which causes more people to re-offend. 5. Lack of technology, inappropriate prediction and ineffective rehabilitation leading to probationers and parolees re-offending. 6. The limitation of the parole system due to victim impact statements From the trends identified, it appears that these problems were pervasive amongst the members of the American Probation and Parole Association in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. In this research, we attempt to find out if the APPA members are still facing the same problems identified in the literature review in the past decades. The research will attempt to find out if the problems of the previous generation are still relevant in the 21st century or not. As such, the research will be based on the null hypothesis: the American Probation and Parole Association members have improved their operations and activities over the past decade. Research Design The research will examine the important elements of the operation of the APPA. It will identify the operations of the American Probation and Parole Association members in the 21st Century in relation to the issues that existed in the era before the late 1990s. The research will analyze the operations of the APPA in the 21st Century and identify if the issues of the pre-1990s continue to subsist in the existing systems of the APPA today. In completing this analysis, the following objectives would be addressed: 1. An assessment of the systems and structures of the APPA in relation to the intensity of their supervision programs and effective rehabilitation. 2. An examination of the resource base of the APPA and its ability to meet the Association's objectives in relation to remuneration, technology, risk prediction and effective rehabilitation. 3. An assessment of the extent of preventing racial abuse. 4. An analysis of the impact of victim impact statements on parole and probation matters. Operationalization of the Research Variables. The independent variable is the variable that is being tested in the research. In this case, the independent variable is the current status of the APPA. This includes the systems, structures, results and practices of the APPA now. They are factual in nature and are not subject to manipulation or changes. The dependent variables are the results of the comparisons that will be made between the findings in the APPA today and the past three decades. This is because they are subject to change and they will determine the actual conclusions that would be arrived during the research. Research Methodology The research will be a cross-sectional research. This is because it will compare the status of the APPA in the 1970s, 80s and 90s with the APPA in the 21st Century. This will show the problems and issues with the system and then identify whether or not improvements have been made in the past decades or not. The research will be conducted in four phases in sync with the four objectives of the research. Sample The research will be meant to apply to the entire APPA throughout America. As such, there will be the conducting of a study over a sample of people who represent a section of the US society that can support generalizations. There will be samples that would be specifically chosen for the assessment of each of the four phases of the research. For each of the phases, practical results will be taken from five carefully selected states throughout the United States. Phase 1 This will involve an assessment of the supervision programs and the effectiveness of the rehabilitation of parolees and probationers. In this study, there will be an examination of the arrangements and rules that are in place in the operations of the APPA on the national level. This will be done through a deductive study that will examine existing rules and regulations relating to the operations of APPA members. This will be done in relation to the rules and regulations that existed in the 1990s, 80s and 70s. New additions to the rules to prevent specific mischievous acts of APPA members will be examined. The impact of the new rules will be examined by comparing them with the statistics of effective rehabilitation that has occurred in the 21st Century. This will be compared with the results that were attained in the previous decades. Samples from different operations of APPA branches in five states spread geographically throughout the United States will be conducted. Phase 2 This will be a comparative analysis of the resource base of the APPA members and its influence on their operations. This will be done through an examination of the remuneration of the APPA members in five states over a year in each of the four decades under study and comparing them with prisons officers and other law enforcement agencies. This will give an insight into how attractive the remuneration of APPA members is in relation to the work load at hand. Also, the technological base of the APPA will be examined in quantity and quality over the five states. This will be done through an analysis of the stocks that are available now and in the past three decades under study. Finally, the effectiveness of each of the periods will be ascertained through the number of persons who have completed their probation and paroles without issues. This will give an idea of how successful these ideas are. Phase 3 At this phase, the statistics of people of different races in the five states under study will be collated. The statistic will be collated visually to show the percentage and number of people of different races who have been given parole and the requirements for each of the groups. The results for previous decades will be collated and an inference will be made about whether the APPA has been successful in dealing with different races or not. Phase 4 The analysis of the Victim Impact Statement on Probation decisions will be conducted by examining a sample of three cases in each of the states. The researcher will examine cases in each of the five states and examine what the Victim Impact Statement was about. This will give an analysis of how the Victim Impact Statement affected decisions. The decisions will be compared with similar decisions taken in the previous decades that were done without Victim Impact Statements. Reliability and Validity of Research Each of the four phases will be the comparison of different eras of America. This means that there might be some elements of the research that would not be applicable in the 21st Century. To ensure reliability, every information taken, the research will state significant differences between the past and the present. For example, in the case of the remuneration of APPA members, there is likely to be the inflation factor. This will be imputed to the research through a relevant factor that will ensure that the research would compare like-with-like. Also, there is likely that there would be cases where data might not exist. In such situations, to ensure validity, there will be an effort to provide compensating information that will promote consistency. Theorization Based on the findings of the four phases, there will be a conclusion that will show whether the APPA has improved in each of the objectives or not. This will form the basis of a theory that will be generalized and applied to the whole United States. References Banks, C. (2004) Criminal Justice Ethics: Theory and Practice New York: SAGE Publications Bottomley, A. K. (1990) “Parole in Transition: A Comparative Study of the Origins, Development and Proposals for the 1990s” Crime and Justice Vol 12 pp319 – 374 Caroll, L. and Mondrick, M. E. (1979) “Racial Bias in the Decision to Grant Parole” Law and Society Review Vol 87 No 1 pp93 – 107 Gaines, J. S. (2007) “Social Correlations of Psychological Distress Among Adult African American Males” Journal of Black Studies Vol. 37 No 6 pp827 – 858 Lynch, M. (1998) “Waste Managers: The New Psychology, Crime Fighting and Parole Agent Identity” Law and Society Journal Vol 32 No 4 pp839 – 870 Petersilia, J. (1997) “Probation in the United States” Chicago Journals Vol 22 pp149 – 200 Petersilia, J. (1999) “Parole and Prisoner Reoffending in the US” Crime and Justice Vol 26 pp479 – 529 Petersilia, J and Turner, S. (1993) “Intensive Probation and Parole” Chicago Journals Vo 17 pp281 – 335 Roberts, J. V. (2009) “Listening to the Crime Victim: Evaluating Victim Impact at Seeking Parole” Crime and Justice Vol. 38 No 1 pp347 – 412 Siegel, L. J. and Worall, J. L. (2012) Essentials of Criminal Justice Mason, OH: Cengage Read More