W. Wesley Johnson

Opening the Manager's Door: State Probation Officer Stress and Perceptions of Participation in Workplace Decision Making

Stress can be costly not only to individuals but also to organizations. Participatory management has been recommended as a means for reducing probation officer stress. This article via self-report surveys of probation personnel in a southern state considers the relationship of a number of demographic variables with employee perceptions of participation in workplace decision making, job satisfaction, and organizational and physical stress levels. Construction of a structural model revealed that employee perceptions of participation in workplace decision making was an important variable in relation to job satisfaction and its influence on both reported organizational and physical symptoms of stress. The results lend further credence to the use and development of participatory management schemas within probation organizations.

The political economy of criminal justice policy: A time-series analysis of economic conditions, crime, and federal criminal justice legislation, 1948–1987

This study explores correlations between economic conditions, crime rates, and federal criminal justice legislation in the United States from 1948 to 1987. We expand on the punishment and social structure literature, inspired by Georg Rusche, by introducing new variables for operationalizing the political economy and criminal justice policy. We conduct a multivariate time-series analysis using various national economic indicators of the conditions of capital and labor over 40 years. The findings provide some support for a relationship between economic conditions and criminal justice legislation, even when crime rate is controlled.

The Future of Community Corrections Is Now: Stop Dreaming and Take Action

The political, economic, and social context in which community corrections functions makes it extremely difficult to achieve successful outcomes. The current fiscal crisis, however, is forcing change as many states can no longer support the cost of our 30-year imprisonment binge. As in the past, community corrections will be expected to pick up the pieces of an overcrowded and expensive prison system. The authors argue that community corrections is capable of taking on this challenge and can be successful if policy makers take action to reduce prison and community supervision populations, ensure that agencies are structured to proactively support evidence-based practice, and recognize corrections as a human services profession. The authors present a number of actions that can be taken to promote a new era of shared responsibility in corrections that is framed within a human rights perspective and driven by an ethic of care.

What Makes You the “Worst of the Worst?” An Examination of State Policies Defining Supermaximum Confinement

As a response to an increasing prison population and as a counteractive measure to problematic inmates, many states within the United States have established supermaximum (supermax) prisons or supermax units within existing prison facilities. Many criminal justice researchers have questioned the efficacy of these specialized units. Although the National Institute for Corrections has established model criteria to dictate what types of inmates should be placed in supermax custody, existing research has not yet examined if the states have chosen to follow the criteria or substitute their own criteria for admission to supermax custody. The current study examines 42 individual state policies in an attempt to ascertain how states determine which inmates are considered the “worst of the worst” and deserve segregation in supermax facilities and/or units. Implications of these policies and directions for future research are discussed.

Female Wardens: Results from a National Survey of State Correctional Executives

This study describes the current situation for female wardens by examining their attitudes toward inmate services, programs, and amenities survival; involvement with correctional staff; and identity as a supervisor through their political affiliations and punishment philosophies. Using Noddings’s “caring ethic,” this study sought to determine whether the historical inclusion of women in corrections has carried over to present time and has retained its reformist nature and whether the job of warden has become more gender-neutral. The results indicate that the differences between male and female wardens are few; those that did exist provided some support for the caring ethic and the retention of women’s roles in corrections as reformers.

Contemporary prison overcrowding: short-term fixes to a perpetual problem

Since the United States began using incarceration as its cornerstone of punishment for those who transgress the law, this method of discipline has been fraught with problems. One of the most ubiquitous problems found within correctional institutions are the conditions inmates are forced to live in particularly, when penal facilities are overcrowded. These conditions have led to extensive litigation, compelling the judicial system to change. Although overall conditions have improved, a perpetually increasing inmate population continues to plague correctional systems as costs continue to rise. As state budgets have become strained during the economic downturns, many states’ officials view less punitive measures as possible solutions to the excessive costs of administering punishment and overcrowded inmate populations. Due to facility overcrowding, several states have actually been placed under federal court order to reduce their inmate population in order to protect inmates’ constitutional rights. Although this has resulted in a change of policies to help alleviate prison overcrowding, there is little evidence these are anything more than short-term fixes to a problem with no end in sight.

Should community supervision officers carry firearms?: A survey of intensive supervision officers

This study examines the attitudes of probation officers monitoring intensive supervision probation caseloads in Texas regarding arming probation officers. The results from this survey indicate that intensive supervision officers are a somewhat diverse group and hold a variety of opinions regarding their use of firearms. While the survey respondents indicate support for requiring ISP officers to carry a firearm, they clearly do not belive all community supervision officers should be required to carry a firearm. Policy implications of arming probation officers are discussed in light of the increasing felonization of probation caseloads.

Transcarceration and Social Control Policy: The 1980s and Beyond

During the 1980s, punishment and control became increasingly complex. As a result, the relevance of various forms of noncriminal justice system control—welfare assistance, psychiatric intervention, and education—has been increasingly recognized. The interaction between the various forms of control is characterized as transcarceration. The analysis in this article incorporates data from 50 states to assess interaction between various forms of control, holding constant the influence of social and economic conditions. Multivariate analyses indicate transcarceral effects do exist. Policy implications are discussed in light of demands by the public for more effective social control and fiscal constraint.

The Treatment of the Mentally Ill in Supermax Facilities An Evaluation of State Supermax Policies

As a criminal justice policy, researchers have encountered numerous problems attempting to evaluate whether supermax confinement achieves its desired goals. Among the many goals of supermax confinement is the incapacitation of the “worst of the worst” inmates. This type of custody, however, has been widely criticized for worsening inmate mental health. In an effort to better understand the treatment of the mentally ill in supermax confinement, we performed a content analysis on 42 state correctional policies. We found considerable variation exists regarding the treatment of the mentally ill as prescribed by official policies and that the majority of correctional policies dictate some level of treatment or intervention for supermax inmates. As criticism regarding the indefinite use of lockdown increases, we argue it is important correctional departments have a foundation that protects inmates and the agency itself, which begins with official policies.

The goals of community-based corrections: An analysis of state legal codes

The increased reliance on community-based correctional programs has been influenced by rising offender populations and the need for states to lessen prison crowding. The ability of community-based corrections to provide rehabilitation, punishment, reintegration, and counseling services has been an issue among both researchers and administrators. Some researchers have asserted that community-based correctional programs have multiple or competing functions. This study examines 1992 legal codes for all fifty states to determine the legally prescribed goals as mandated by state legislatures. The findings suggest that rehabilitation is the primary legislatively mandated goal, and that most states have multiple purposes for handling offenders in the community. Suggestions for future research in the area of community-based corrections goals are made.