VCU professor authors first research-based guide to supervising parolees and probationers

By Mike Frontiero
VCU School of Education

Researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Maryland and the University of Massachusetts have written a manual that is the first to promote research-based practices over traditional methods of supervising people on parole and probation.

“Tools of the Trade: A Guide to Incorporating Science into Practice” comes at a time when more American adults are under community supervision than any other form of correctional control. More than 4.8 million adults were on probation and parole in 2003, according to U.S. Department of Justice statistics. This is more than double the number of criminal offenders in prison and jail.

A recent national study showed that 43 percent of probationers are rearrested for a felony within three years of their initial sentence. Many experts, however, believe two-thirds of probationers break the law again within three years.

“The tendency is to approach supervision with a ‘wait and see attitude’ – passing by the time with minimal effort or commitment to the sentencing or release goals,” said Faye S. Taxman, Ph.D., primary author of the manual and a professor in Virginia Commonwealth University’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs.

The manual takes a different approach, instructing supervision staff to manage offenders’ behavior instead of merely monitoring it and to help motivate offenders to change their behaviors. “Under this approach, supervision staff manage behaviors with an emphasis on establishing clear boundaries and a fair process for addressing boundary violations,” said Taxman. This approach is based on research indicating the likelihood of future criminal activity can be substantially reduced if the causes of criminal behavior are identified and addressed during the supervision period.

“Research has identified the process through which people can change their attitudes and behavior and, correspondingly, a set of interventions and techniques are available for supervision staff that can work powerfully to help people move through that process of change,” said Taxman.

“’Tools of the Trade’ presents the research literature to the field in a way that translates research into practice,” said Carl Wicklund, executive director of the American Probation and Parole Association. “It is an important addition to the field.”

To read the manual, go to www.nicic.org/pubs/2004/020095.pdf.