One of the main issues that plagues our field is
the inherent contradiction between public protection and the factors or
outcomes (in treatment, risk management) that contribute to it. Success in
treatment can look different from, and be measured in a different way from,
success in risk management and probation. However, the factors involved in
successful community integration/reintegration share a lot of common features
with the factors that make treatment work. We know that punishment-only
approaches don’t work and that completing treatment programs is associated with
reduced risk. What can supervision agents (i.e., Police, Probation, Parole,
Social Workers, etc) look for as indicators of success in their efforts?
A new study in Criminal Justice and Behavior exemplifies a
welcome trend in evidence-based community corrections (an idea which is
essential; key performance Indicators are central to the success and continued
funding as well as use of these programs). Quantifying success in supervision
as well as treatment can be a challenge at the best of times and often results
in success factors being external to the actual program (i.e., reoffending
rates only rather than personal change or successful risk management
procedures), but especially in terms of people who commit sexual
offences.
For this new study, authors Brandy Blasko and Faye
Taxman examined a brief and practical measure for use by community
supervision staff to assess the extent to which individuals under community
supervision perceive the supervision process as fair. Important to emphasize is
that this was fairness as perceived by the person in community supervision and
not the agent or agencies.
Many people in the lay public may have no interest
in measuring whether or not the person under community supervision perceives
their treatment as fair; in fact, many members of the public reject the need
for or utility of pro-social, support management and/or treatment for people
who have committed sexual offences. Indeed, many will believe that community
supervision is part of a person’s punishment for breaking the law; however, it
isn’t the actual role of supervising agents around the world is to carry out
court orders while simultaneously supporting efforts at rehabilitation.
Unfortunately, many supervising agents (known by different names in various
jurisdictions, and including probation and parole officers) often view their
work as inherently punitive and/or make clear to the people on their caseloads
that they hold them in some form of moral contempt. The continued austerity,
privatization and bureaucratic drives in community supervision often exacerbate
these aforementioned issues and can lead to staff feeling disengaged, unwanted,
unwelcome and more inclined to leave the field.
Blasko and Taxman found that their “measure
demonstrated significant relationships with supervision outcomes of both crime
and technical violations across two independent community supervision samples.”
In other words, the better the working relationship with the agent, as
perceived by the supervisee, the less likely these people were to persist in
problematic behavior. Questions on this measure include areas such as to what
extent the person on supervision feels that their agent takes their
perspective, follows established procedures and guidelines, and treats them
like others who are on supervision. However, this raises issues of how we
support staff to enable them to work more effectively with people who commit
sexual offences when this “relationship” goes against perceived social,
political and organizational norms. Staff want to draw a distinct line between
themselves and the individuals that they work with as a defense mechanism, a
minimization technique and adhering to what is often argued as good working
practices.
This study’s results echo decades of psychotherapy
research, finding that how clients in treatment perceive the working alliance
with their clinician can determine much of the outcome of treatment. The power
of positive relationships in the integration of people who commit offences,
generally, is well evidenced in the literature in terms of from a peer support
(i.e., research on the importance of social capital) but not in terms of
practitioner/professional support which is interesting when one considers that
a lot of people who commit sexual offences might try to interact with probation
officers (and others like them) as though they are friends or colleagues.
Although, potentially irritating to the supervising agent, these kinds of
interactions can indicate that the relationship is considered important to the
client. It is fascinating that these findings receive so little attention
within the criminal justice literature and raise the question of, why not?
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