Shannon Portillo

The Paradox of Rules: Rules as Resources and Constraints

There is limited scholarship considering how social status factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, and age frame rules in public organizations. Using data collected from semistructured interviews with 49 local government officials, the author argues that there is a paradox of rules. Women and people of color are increasingly entering the ranks of local bureaucracies, but they experience their authority differently than white men. Their claim to authority is challenged more often. Unable to rely on implicit rank and social status as a defense, they must rely instead on official rights and rules. The very meaning of their authority is therefore different: It is more rule and rights based, more formal than informal, more explicit than implicit. Yet, because it is more rule based, formal, and explicit, their authority is also more open to question and challenge, and more resented as an artifice. People of color and women in positions of authority thus face the paradox of rules: They must rely on formal rules as a key basis for their authority, but relying on rules makes their authority seem more artificial than real.

Adding positive reinforcement in justice settings: Acceptability and feasibility

Although contingency management (CM) approaches are among the most promising methods for initiating drug abstinence (S. T. Higgins, S. M. Alessi, & R. L. Dantona, 2002; S. T. Higgins, S. H. Heil, & J. P. Lussier, 2004), adoption and implementation of CM protocols into treatment programs are both challenging and infrequent. In criminal justice agencies, where roughly 70% of clients report substance abuse issues (F. S. Taxman, K. L. Cropsey, D. W. Young, & H. Wexler, 2007), CM interventions are virtually nonexistent. The Justice Steps (JSTEPS) study uses a longitudinal, mixed-method design to examine the implementation of a CM-based protocol in five justice settings. This article presents qualitative data collected during Phase 1 of the JSTEPS project regarding the acceptability and feasibility of CM in these justice settings. The study finds a level of acceptability (find CM tolerable) and feasibility (find CM suitable) within justice agencies, but with some challenges. These challenges are reflected in the following: (a) incorporating too many desired target behaviors into CM models; (b) facing intraorganizational challenges when designing CM systems; and (c) emphasizing sanctions over rewards despite the evidence-base for positive reinforcers. These findings have implications for advancing the dissemination, adoption, and implementation of evidence-based treatments (and CM in particular) in criminal justice settings.

Front-Stage Stars and Backstage Producers: The Role of Judges in Problem-Solving Courts

Abstract In problem-solving courts judges are no longer neutral arbitrators in adversarial justice processes. Instead, judges directly engage with court participants. The movement toward problem-solving court models emerges from a collaborative therapeutic jurisprudence framework. While most scholars argue judges are the central courtroom actors within problem-solving courts, we find judges are the stars front-stage, but play a more supporting role backstage. We use Goffmans (1959) front-stage–backstage framework to analyze 350 hours of ethnographic fieldwork within five problem-solving courts. Problem-solving courts are collaborative organizations with shifting leadership, based on forum. Understanding how the roles of courtroom workgroup actors adapt under the new court model is foundational for effective implementation of these justice processes.

Students as Scholars: Integrating Independent Research into Undergraduate Education

Undergraduate programs across the country are working to develop students as scholars, integrating independent scholarly experiences into traditional undergraduate classroom environments (see, e.g. George Mason Universitys Students as Scholars Quality Enhancement Plan; Boston University’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program; University of Houston’s Learning through Discovery; University of Michigan’s Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program; etc.). Scholars and universities have touted the benefits of engaging students in research experiences for students as well as faculty. However, there is little empirical work exploring how undergraduate students adapt to their new role as scholars. In this paper, we explore the process of students integrating research into their undergraduate classroom experience. Based on participant observation and pre and postsemester survey data, we discuss the process of students learning as scholars in a capstone Criminology, Law & Society course. We focus on how students gathered and analyzed data and integrated their research experience into their overall learning for the course. We find the process of research reinforces the learning objectives of the course.

The Transportability of Contingency Management in Problem-solving Courts

Problem-solving (PS) courts continue to proliferate throughout the country, providing an ideal setting for understanding the factors affecting the use of rewards, a key part of one evidence-based practice (EBP), contingency management (CM). This study uses the concept of transportability to explore how justice practitioners implement CM. Based on roughly 400 h of ethnographic fieldwork, conducted over 34 months in six PS courts, we examine the implementation and adaptation of CM. While decisions to adopt and implement practices are concentrated at the managerial level of organizations, the implementation processes used by frontline workers provide key insight into how EBP may become an everyday workplace practice. This study finds frontline workers adapting CM principles to their environments. While it might appear as though CM implementation strays from the original evidence-based construct, local adaptations provide a foundation for understanding the factors that affect the transportability of CM into routine practice.

The Adversarial Process of Administrative Claims The Process of Unemployment Insurance Hearings

Although administrative hearings are not formal litigation, the process often resembles traditional adversarial adjudication. There are two parties, one has the burden of proof, both present evidence, and there is a ruling on the legal merits. Substantively, the hearing focuses on eligibility for benefits. Procedurally, the hearing runs like traditional courtroom litigation. Based on direct observation of 45 unemployment insurance claims and interviews with administrative law judges (ALJs), I find ALJs behave differently when there is no legal counsel present. Whereas the law that governs the hearing remains the same, the process for pro se claimants is substantively different.

Mental Health Peer Navigators: Working With Criminal Justice–Involved Populations

Although peer navigators have gained traction within health care, they are still a relatively new feature of criminal justice–involved organizations. Based on data gathered from interviews, nonparticipant observations, and focus groups from a nonprofit that employs peer navigators to assist clients returning from prison with diagnosed mental illnesses, we argue that peer navigators play multiple roles that extend beyond the client level by influencing the organization and its interaction with the community. Importantly, we discuss these implications for the organization and suggest structure and socialization issues for the integration of criminal justice–involved peer navigators.

Students as Scholars & Writers: Teaching & Assessing Undergraduate Writing in a Capstone Course

This paper presents an innovative approach for engaging and assessing undergraduate students in the writing process. Through an iterative, intensive course design that includes both in-classroom and online teaching, our Capstone course integrates writing instruction as students learn a new topic, gather and analyze data, and write a research paper complete with an introduction, literature review, findings section, and discussion/conclusion. Based on five semesters of observations, survey data, content analysis, and student reflective writing, we discuss the processes students undergo while learning to research and write as social science scholars. We find student outcomes beyond what we initially expected.

Mentoring Minority and Female Students: Recommendations for Improving Mentoring in Public Administration and Public Affairs Programs

Abstract Significant amounts of research have suggested how important mentoring is to success in academic careers. Studies have also explored the unique issues that arise for women and minorities in mentoring situations (Chandler, 1996). This study utilizes Kram’s (1988) mentoring functions as a framework for analyzing mentoring relationships for minority and female doctoral students in public administration and public affairs programs. It also adds to the empirical evidence of the importance of mentors for women and minorities pursuing academic careers and the unique situations they face. Survey data is collected from current high-performing women and minority students who are preparing for research careers in academia. Survey responses are supplemented with notes of interviews between students and mentor program coordinators. After an analysis of the surveys and transcripts from women and minority students currently in mentoring relationships, suggestions are provided for how public administration and public affairs schools can use this information to improve the retention and success of minority and female doctoral students pursuing academic careers in our discipline.

Managing from the Middle: Frontline Supervisors and Perceptions of Their Organizational Power

Frontline supervisors serve as a “critical interpretive nexus between policy creators and policy implementers” (Rudes 2012, 4). However, we still know relatively little about how subordinates view their own power in relation to their supervisors and how frontline supervisors understand and exercise their power. Focusing on street-level workers and frontline supervisors across a statewide community corrections agency, we explore perceptions, experiences, and assertions of power in the workplace. Using focus groups with thirty-two street-level probation and parole officers and focus groups and field observations of seventy-five frontline supervisors, we find that officers and frontline supervisors have widely differing views on the power of the frontline supervisory position, some of which are influenced by gender. While street-level workers align frontline supervisors with policy creators, frontline supervisors view their own role as disempowered go-betweens. Frontline supervisors compensate for their perceived lack of power in policymaking and implementation by using micro power strategies to assert their power. This study extends street-level bureaucrat theory to the role of the frontline supervisor, who in practice is distant from the upper management roles with which they are typically categorized. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.