Philosophies in Community Supervision of Gang-Involved Youth and Adults

• In Event: International Perspectives in community sanctions and measures

Abstract

Community supervision officers are integral to the criminal legal system and public safety efforts throughout the United States. Although much of the existing corrections literature focuses on the experiences of people incarcerated in American jails and prisons, the most commonly employed sentencing outcome is community supervision—with an estimated 3.7 million people on probation or parole. Accordingly, such wide use of community supervision in the United States has resulted in large-scale reliance on probation and parole officers to facilitate change and success among both youth and adults. Their policies and practices are especially consequential for supervising high-risk, high-need populations, such as gang-involved individuals. To contribute to the community supervision literature on role perceptions and decision-making, and to understand how probation officers balance the dual goals of public safety and rehabilitation, in-depth interviews with youth and adult supervision staff in the Pacific Northwest were conducted. Findings revealed that while both groups had a shared understanding of the pathways to gang involvement (e.g., family hardships) and barriers to desistance (e.g., fear of losing meaningful social ties), they held distinct views on the factors that drive success and compliance. Youth officers utilized therapeutic philosophies and emphasized restoration through community resources to help youth desist from gang activity. In contrast, adult officers endorsed law enforcement philosophies, emphasized accountability and personal choices, and centered punitive strategies when using interagency collaboration. The findings also suggest that continuity of care in supervision philosophies can yield more successful outcomes for high-risk youth and adults.

Author

• Miltonette Olivia Craig, Sam Houston State University