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Corrections, Probation, and Parole

Resource Guide

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Gregory Hurley

Tara Kunkel

Brian Ostrom

Nial Raaen

The overcrowding and mismanagement facing the corrections systems in the U.S. today have lead to inhumane treatment of prisoners and lawsuits against correctional facilities that has created a high volume of civil-rights violation cases within our judicial system. Not only do courts have to develop a way of examining the validity and efficiency of the information used in gathering and presenting these claims, but likewise create programs that allow victim and community involvement within the criminal justice system.

Links to related online resources are listed below. Non-digitized publications may be borrowed from the NCSC Library; call numbers are provided.

Featured Links

Issue: Corrections Government Relations describes the impact, position, and summary on the issue of Corrections in Congress.
Justice System Journal Articles
NACM Justice Achievement Awards

A compilation of the National Association for Court Management's Justice Achievement Awards from 2000-2011.

Trends Articles

Female Prisoners

Hard Hit: The Growth in the Imprisonment of Women, 1977-2004. (2004). Institute on Women in Criminal Justice A new report commissioned by the Institute on Women & Criminal Justice finds that female imprisonment in the U.S. has skyrocketed 757 percent since 1977. Women are the fastest-growing segment of the prison population, surpassing male prison population growth in all 50 states. These trends have profound consequences for communities, families and the women themselves. This report finds that the rise in the female prison population has been punctuated by growth spikes that reached higher, lasted longer and often began earlier than those affecting men.
Conly, Catherine. The Women`s Prison Association: Supporting Women Offenders and Their Families. (December 1998). National Institute of Justice Program Report Document presents information on supporting women and their families involved with prison sentences, including a look at the Women's Prison Association, differences between men and women inmates, the WPA's history, characteristics of women offenders in New York, availability of services, obtaining funding, and WPA programs and funding.
Snell, Tracy L. Women in Prison. (March 1994). Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report Describes the characteristics of women in prison and provides statistics.
Greenfield, Laurence, and Tracy Snell. Women Offenders. (December 1999). Bureau of Justice Statistics: Special Report Report presents information on women offenders, including statistical highlights, violent victimizers, characteristics of violent female offenders and their victims, consequences of female violence, women who murder, female defendants in state courts, female corrections populations, inmates' children, economic circumstances, health issues, criminal history, sentences to prison, and recidivism. 
Morash, Merry et al. Women Offenders: Programming Needs and Promising Approaches. (August 1998). National Institute of Justice Research in Brief This NIJ study on programs for women offenders, document includes information on management of prisons and jails, contracting and interagency coordination for program delivery, and innovative programs for women offenders.

Interstate Compact

Mountjoy, John J. A New Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision. (Summer 2002). Spectrum 75, no. 3: 26 Article looks into the Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision, including information on the previous Interstate Compact for the Supervision of Parolees and Probationers,  a new solution,  compact specifics, concerns from the field, and modern interstate compacts.
Interstate Commission on Adult Offender Supervision. Training resources for handling adult offenders. See especially their web-based training.
Interstate Compacts. Council of State Governments This Web site provides a host of information on interstate compact for both adults and juveniles.  For an up-to-date status of juvenile interstate compact, click here.
Public Policy Issue: Interstate Compact of Probation and Parole. National Center for Victims of Crime Resources for helping victims of crime cope.

Organizations

American Correctional Association. The American Correctional Association is the oldest, and largest international correctional association in the world. ACA serves all disciplines within the corrections profession and is dedicated to the excellence in every aspect of the field.
American Probation and Parole Association. The American Probation and Parole Association is an international association composed of individuals from the United States, its US territories, and Canada; actively involved with probation, parole, and community-based correction, in both adult and juvenile sectors including all levels of government, local, state/provincial and federal agencies.
Correctional Education Association. The Correctional Education Association (CEA), founded in 1946, is a non-profit, professional association serving educators and administrators who provide services to students in correctional settings.
Federal Bureau of Prisons. Provides information on federal prisons, weekly prison population updates, and inmate issues. Includes job opportunities within the Bureau as well as an online inmate locator.
Federal Probation: A Journal of Correctional Philosophy and Practice. The Federal Judiciary This site provides links to the quarterly publication dating back to June 1998.
National Center on Institutions and Alternatives. The National Center on Institutions and Alternatives (NCIA) was founded in 1977 by Dr. Jerome G. Miller and Herbert J. Hoelter. Since that time, they have been on the leading edge of new concepts in criminal and juvenile justice, providing professional research, training and technical assistance for developing and supporting community-based programs.
Office of Correctional Education. The Office of Correctional Education (OCE), part of the U.S. Department of Education and the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, provides technical assistance to states, local schools, and correctional institutions and shares information on correctional education.
The ACLU National Prison Project. A national litigation program on behalf of prisoners.
The National Association of Pretrial Services Agencies (NAPSA). NAPSA is the national professional association for the pretrial release and pretrial diversion fields and consists primarily of pretrial practitioners; however, others interested in pretrial issues, such as judges, lawyers, researchers, and prosecutors, are part of its 500-plus membership from 44 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
The National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center. The NLECTC regional centers and specialty offices work directly with Federal, State, and local government agencies; community leaders; and scientists to foster technological innovations that result in new products, services, systems, and strategies for the Nation’s criminal justice professionals.
The Osborne Association. The Osborne Association operates a broad range of treatment, educational, and vocational services for people involved in the adult criminal and juvenile justice systems, including prisoners and former prisoners, their children, and other family members
The Pretrial Services Resource Center. The Pretrial Services Resource Center, an independent, non-profit clearinghouse for information on pretrial issues, provides technical assistance to pretrial practitioners, criminal justice officials, academicians, and community leaders nationwide.

Prison and Corrections Management

Finn, Peter. Addressing Correctional Officer Stress: Programs and Strategies. (2000). National Institute of Justice The U.S. Department of Justice publication presents valuable information on combating stress in correctional officers, including discussion on the topics of reasons to establish or expand a stress program for correctional officers, extent and sources of this stress, program case studies, staffing/training/networking for the program, ensuring participation, other keys to program success, and evaluation/funding/technical assistance.
Increasing Public Safety in New Mexico, Before and After Incarceration: New Directions for Reform in New Mexico Corrections. (June 2008). This report is contains the recommendations of Governor Richardson's Task Force on Prison Reform.
Stinchcomb, Jeanne B. Quality Management In Corrections: Implementation Issues and Potential Policy Implications. (1998). Criminal Justice Policy Review 9, no. 1: 123 Explores the extent to which micromanagement concepts have been applied in the correctional system and the effectiveness of those techniques.
Fischer, Daryl R. Security Threat Group Program Evaluation, Final Report. (October 2002). Arizona Department of Corrections Report presents the final conclusions from the Arizona Department of Corrections study on prison security threats, including information on evaluation parameters, disciplinary violation rates, incapacitation analysis, time series analysis, desistance analysis, correlation of prison violence and disruptiveness, background and demographic information, mission and goals of the STG program, inmate and staff safety, and conditions in prison units.
Mackenzie, Doris. Sentencing and Corrections in the 21st Century: Setting the Stage for the Future. (2001). University of Maryland, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice Examines the growth and changes in criminal populations, crime control, crime rates, and the incarceration rate and discusses their effect on the corrections system.
Wright, Kevin N. The Evolution of Decision Making Among Prison Executives, 1975-2000. (2000). Criminal Justice 3: 177 Publication presents an examination of the changes in the administration of prisons and prison systems since 1975, including information on external relations, standards and accountability, the prison workforce, inmates, technology, strategic management, privatization, and justice.

Prison Population Statistics

Federal Bureau of Prisons. Provides information on federal prisons, weekly prison population updates, and inmate issues.
Harrison, Page, and Allen Beck. Prisoners In 2001. (July 2002). Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin Click here for a list of all reports by the Bureau of Justice Statistics on Prisoners.  Report provides statistical data on prisoners in United States jails in 2001, including information on the total number of prisoners in that nation's prison facilities, prison population increase, growth affected by transfer of sentenced felons from the District of Columbia, incarceration rates continue to rise, privately operated prisons, local facilities, prison capacity measures vary, growth linked to increasing number of inmates in state prison for violent and drug offenses, and changing federal prison population related to drugs, weapons, and immigration violations.
Langan, Patrick, and David Levin. Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994. (June 2002). Bureau of Justice Statistics: Special Report Report presents recidivism information on prisoners released in 1994, including discussion of four measures of recidivism, characteristics of the released prisoners,  crimes committed by released prisoners, number of violent arrests, recidivism rate by demographic characteristics, specialists, number of prior arrests, and methodology of the study.

Prison Privatization

Archambeault, William, and Donald Deis. Cost Effectiveness Comparisons of Public Versus Private Prisons in Louisiana. (August 1997). Journal of the Oklahoma Criminal Justice Research Consortium 4 Document compares the situations in three of Louisiana's medium-security prisons, including information on an overview of the study, limitations and assumptions of the study, and study findings of comparability.
Austin, James, and Garry Coventry. Emerging Issues on Privatized Prisons. (2001). Washington, DC: National Council On Crime and Delinquency From the introduction: This monograph examines the historical factors that gave rise to the higher incarceration rates, fueling the privatization movement, and the role played by the private sector in the prison system. It outlines arguments both in support of and opposed to privatized prisons, reviews current literature on the subject, and examines issues that will have an effect on future privatizations. An appendix provides practical guidelines for policy makers considering privatization.
Blum, Karen, and Kathryn Urbonya. Section 1983 Litigation. (1998). Federal Judicial Center From the preface: This monograph analyzes the fundamental issues that arise in litigation under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the statue for redressing constitutional and federal statutory violations, and the case law interpreting those issues.
Schlosser, Eric. The Prison-Industrial Complex. (December 1998). Atlantic Monthly Article on California prisons, with attention to the history of the Folsom prison.

Prisoner Litigation

Cheesman, Fred, Brian Ostrom, and Roger Hanson. A Tale of Two Laws Revisted: Investigating the Impact of Prisoner Litigation Reform Act and the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty. (January 2004). 103 pages.

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the impact of the PLRA and the AEDPA. The goal was to determine the extent to which AEDPA and the PLRA have affected the number of habeas corpus petitions and prisoner lawsuits filed, respectively.
Hanson, Roger, and Henry W. K. Daley. Challenging the Conditions of Prisons and Jails: A Report on Section 1983 Litigation. (1994). U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics Examines 2,700 cases in nine states concerning section 1983 litigation and divides the cases into three gradations based on the length of time it takes the courts to either dismiss or resolve them. The paper looks at statistics concerning the makeup of and circumstances surrounding section 1983 litigation, then addresses two questions: 1) For the cases that lack an adequate basis of law or fact, should they be resolved through state administrative grievance procedures rather than the federal or state court systems? 2) What innovative procedures have the federal courts adopted to resolve the more complex section 1983 lawsuits?
The ACLU National Prison Project. A national litigation program on behalf of prisoners. 
The Osborne Association. The Osborne Association operates a broad range of treatment, educational, and vocational services for people involved in the adult criminal and juvenile justice systems, including prisoners and former prisoners, their children, and other family members

Probation and Parole

American Correction Association. The American Correctional Association is the oldest, and largest international correctional association in the world. ACA serves all disciplines within the corrections profession and is dedicated to the excellence in every aspect of the field.
American Probation and Parole Association. The American Probation and Parole Association is an international association composed of individuals from the United States, its US territories, and Canada; actively involved with probation, parole, and community-based correction, in both adult and juvenile sectors including all levels of government, local, state/provincial and federal agencies.
Dickey, Walker, and Michael Smith. The Report from the Focus Group -- Dangerous Opportunity: Five Futures for Community Corrections. (1998). In Rethinking Probation: Community Supervision, Community Safety, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs A report from a focus group that addresses the future of probation and parole programs by analyzing five possible directions the programs could take.

Rehabilitation Reentry

Cullen, Francis T., and Paul Gendreau. Assessing Correctional Rehabilitation: Policy, Practice, and Prospects. (2000). Criminal Justice 3 Essay that addresses the effectiveness of rehabilitation policies on preventing recidivism. The analysis is divided into seven sections discussing why rehabilitation’s place as the dominate correctional model was called into question, examining previous research, evaluating what works and what does not, and providing suggestions for running an efficient corrections policy.
Travis, Jeremy. But They All Come Back: Rethinking Prisoner Reentry. (May 2000). Sentencing and Corrections: Issues for the 21st Century, no. 7 Article explores the issue of reentry, providing information on reentry reconsidered, restructuring reentry- pressure from the collapse of parole, reentry=cues from the pretrial phase, new directions in policy, a provocative proposal, and conclusion.
Comparative Analysis of the Five Aftercare Projects. (July 1999). Juvenile Justice Bulletin Web site provides recommended reforms following the comparison of five aftercare projects using the IAP model, these recommendations include aftercare which is part of reintegrative corrections must include preparation for aftercare, aftercare is generally funding and staffing is far below requirements, intensive aftercare requires formal assessment procedures, caseload reduction and contact increases are accepted operational principals for intensive aftercare programming, and it is possible to create a workable model of reintegrative confinement.
Improving the Nation`s Criminal Justice System: Findings and Results from State and Local Program Evaluations. (1997). Justice Research and Statistics Association and the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance Document explores several state and localities programs' for improvement of the criminal justice system through the effective initiatives program. 
Learn About Reentry. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs Website presents an overview of the issue of reentry as well as the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative.
Wolf, Robert. Reentry Courts: Looking Ahead. (2011). Center for Court Innovation.

In June 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance sponsored a focus group of policymakers, court practitioners, parole and probation administrators, and researchers to take stock of reentry courts. This report summarizes the discussion.
Reentry Initiative. Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs
 This initiative is a comprehensive effort that addresses both juvenile and adult populations of serious, high-risk offenders.
Reentry Policy Council. The Reentry Policy Council (RPC) was established in 2001 to assist state government officials grappling with the increasing number of people leaving prisons and jails to return to the communities they left behind.
The IAP Model. (July 1999). Juvenile Justice Bulletin Web site provides information on the IAP model which transition and aftercare programs can be measured against; IAP is an effective model because of its identification of specific program elements, components of the elements, and services that address essential reintegration aspects.

Technology and Corrections

Klein-Saffran, Jody. Electronic Monitoring versus Halfway Houses: A Study of Federal Offenders. (Fall 1995). Alternatives to Incarceration This report compares the results of recidivism in former inmates who were placed in half-way houses or under electronic monitoring during the year proceeding their release from prison.  
Global Positioning Satellite Monitoring. (2006). Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services, State of South Carolina This article discusses the use of GPS units as a result of the passing of Jessie's Law in 2006. 
GPS Tracking of Sexual Offenders. (June 2006). National Conference of State Legislatures This document provides state-by-state information on legislation authorizing GPS tracking to monitor offenders in the community.
Quinn, Diane. Mock Prison Riot 2000, A Technology Showcase. (April 2001). Corrections Today 63, no. 2 Article explains the Office of Law Enforcement Technology Commercialization's (OLETC) demonstration on effective prison riot control techniques, presented to more than 1,000 spectators and participants, through a variety of scenarios.
Sentenac, Hannah. More States Move to Use GPS Tracking of Sex Offenders. (May 2006). Fox News This article details both sides of argument related to the growing tend of using UPS tracking devices to track the exact location of sex offenders at all times. 
Fabelo, Tony. Technocorrections: The Promises, the Uncertain Threats. (May 2000). Sentencing and Corrections: Issues for the 21st Century, no. 5 Publication explains the current situation of technological options for corrections methods, including information on the technologies of techno-corrections, forces converging to escalate techno-corrections, potential scenarios, and controlling technological control.
The National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center. The NLECTC regional centers and specialty offices work directly with Federal, State, and local government agencies; community leaders; and scientists to foster technological innovations that result in new products, services, systems, and strategies for the Nation’s criminal justice professionals.