Workloads of Midwestern Community Supervision Officers: Lessons Learned from a Series of Time Studies

• In Event: Role and View of Correctional Officers

Abstract

Since the 1980s, time studies have been used to measure staff workload in a variety of criminal justice settings; most prominent for judges (Kleiman, Lee, & Ostrom, 2013), prosecutors (American Prosecutors Research Institute [APRI], 2002), and community supervision officers (DeMichele, Payne, & Matz, 2011). Such studies have been used to refine agency practices and make justifications to state legislatures for the need of additional staff. This presentation will discuss the results of several time studies, which utilized a semi-Delphi process, conducted across multiple states in the Midwest. Findings indicate, in one jurisdiction for example, that probation and parole officers are often heavily confined to their office, burdened with excessive paperwork that prohibits more proactive engagements with treatment providers and probationers/parolees in the community. Further discussion of the implications of these studies as they relate to evidence-based practices (EBP) will be considered, as well as how the time study methodology has varied and evolved over the past three decades.

Author

• Adam Karl Matz, University of North Dakota