The Future of Offender Classification

Published date01 March 1981
Date01 March 1981
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/009385488100800102
Subject MatterArticles
15
THE
FUTURE
OF
OFFENDER
CLASSIFICATION
Some
Cautions
and
Prospects
CARL
B.
CLEMENTS
University
of Alabama
Selected
offender
classification
practices,
past
and
present,
are
reviewed
and
evaluated
in
light
of
minimal
criteria.
Megargee’s
(1977)
requirements
for
a
"good"
classification
system
are
amplified,
and
a
critique
of
several
current
approaches
is
provided.
The
role
of
classification
deficiencies
in
prison
conditions
litigation
is
summarized.
The
author
also
draws
together
in
Appendices
several
sets
of
guidelines
from
commissions,
courts,
scholars,
and
government
institutes.
Everything
that
needs
to
be
said
has
already
been
said.
But
since
no
one
was
listening,
everything
must
be
said
again.
-André
Gide
The
belief
in
the
value
of
offender
classification
has
long
been
expressed
in
criminological
and
correctional
literature.
Although
early
attempts
to
distinguish
among
criminal
&dquo;types&dquo;
were
well
intentioned,
these
categorizations
seem
primitive
by
today’s
standards.
For
example,
the
1896
&dquo;Yearbook&dquo;
of
the
New
York
State
Reformatory
at
Elmira
includes
group
photographs
of
various
&dquo;specimens,&dquo;
e.g.,
Mathematical
Dullards,
Those
De-
Author’s
Note:
An
earlier
version
of this
article
was
prepared
as
a
background
paper
for
a
conference
on
Current
Issues
in
Prison
Litigation,
supported
in
part
by
the
National
Institute
of
Corrections
Technical
Assistance
Program.
The
present
article
was
written
while
the
author
was
a
U.S.
Public
Health
16
ficient
in
Self-Control,
and
Stupid.
I
However,
despite
the
academic
and
pragmatic
thrusts
of
the
last
twenty
or
thirty
years
(see
Megargee
&
Bohn,
1979,
for
an
excellent
review
of
typo-
logical
systems),
classification
has
not
yet
delivered
on
its
promise
as
an
instrument
of
correctional
understanding
and
management.
This
failing
seems
due
more
to
a
lack
of
commit-
ment
and
resources
than
to
an
absence
of
guidelines.
Indeed,
scholars,
judges,
accreditation
commissions,
advisory
panels,
and
state
and
federal
agencies
have
all
presented
organizing
frameworks
and
minimal
standards
for
the
operation
of
offender
classification
systems
(see
Appendices
A
through
G).
For
a
variety
of
reasons,
no
correctional
system
has
yet
to
implement
classification
practices
consistent
with
any
one
of
these
sets
of
guidelines.
Perhaps
some
practitioners
have
seen
so
many
versions
of
the
classification
trick
bag
that
they
no
longer
have
confidence
in
its
potential.
Or,
as
we
have
noted
recently
in
some
settings,
classification
criteria
and
decisions
can
be
cynically
devised
and
used
to
force
prisoners
into
facilities
and
programs
on
what
amounts
to
a
&dquo;space
available&dquo;
basis.
The
purpose
of
this
article
is
not
to
develop
the
ultimate
classi-
fication
system.
There
probably
is
no
one
system.
Instead
I
have
employed
a
set
of
criteria
(Megargee,
1977:
Appendix
E)
against
which
classification
schemes
can
be
assessed
and
evaluated.
Existing
procedures
may
be
looked
at
in
a
straightforward
manner.
New
proposals
can
be
partially
assessed
before
imple-
mentation,
and,
if
they
pass
muster,
subsequent
real-world
evalu-
ation
can
be
conducted.
Using
this
framework
as
well
as
the
other
available
wisdom,
each
jurisdiction
can
still
develop
its
own
version
of
offender
classification.
Unfortunately,
over
the
past
several
years
as
part
of
prison
litigation
inspections,2
we
have
seen
wide
variations
Service
Postdoctoral
Fellow
at
the
Department
of
Psychology,
Florida
State
University
(Grant
MH 13202,
NIMH,
Center for
Studies
of
Crime
and
De-
linquency).
The
opinions
are
those
of the
author
and
do
not
necessarily
repre-
sent
policies
or
attitudes
of
the
National
Institute
of
Corrections
or
the
U.S.
Public
Health
Service.
Thanks
are
expressed
to
Edwin
I.
Megargee
for
his
PMO//C
T~coM
~crvtcc.
TTton~
arc
cxprc-Mc~
~o
E~w
/.
M~ar~c~br
AM
critical
reading
of
this
manuscript.

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