Mapping the Path: The Influence of Historic Life Events on Community Corrections Staff and their Philosophy of Supervision

• In Event: Decisions in Context: Using Life Course and Narrative Analysis to Analyze Offender and Officer Actions

Abstract

Life course criminology is interested in understanding how significant life events impact an offender’s propensity for persistence in or desistance from crime. This theoretical framework considers the influence of offender-level factors on the desistance process, and has not considered individual-level factors from other criminal justice actors, such as probation and parole officers. As a step toward understanding the PO’s influence on desistance, this study offers an exploratory analysis of the “life course” of employment among staff within a community supervision agency. Relying on in-depth interviews featuring a modified life event calendar, the study seeks to uncover how historic changes in the organization (external) and individual life circumstances (internal) of these staff impact the delivery of supervision services. This analysis specifically considers staff orientations toward philosophies of punishment and rehabilitation and how this might serve as intervention in criminal behavior. Findings from this study have particular relevance for understanding how the implementation of EBPs is nuanced and potentially influenced by individual staff characteristics and their experiences over time.

Authors

• Kimberly R. Kras, University of Massachusetts Lowell

• Shannon Magnuson, George Mason University

• Faye S. Taxman, George Mason University