Views of Community Corrections Supervision and Their Predictors: An Officer and Offender Comparison

• Author: Dawei Zhang,Eric G. Lambert,Shanhe Jiang
• Published date: 01 January 2022
• Date: 01 January 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00328855211069305
• Subject Matter: Articles

Views of Community

Corrections Supervision

and Their Predictors: An

Off‌icer and Offender

Comparison

Shanhe Jiang

1

, Dawei Zhang

2

,

and Eric G. Lambert

3

Abstract

Appropriate supervision strategies are the backbone of community correc-

tions. The success of community supervision is dependent upon the attitudes

of both off‌icers and offenders. Despite this, research on offenders’attitudes

toward community corrections supervision is surprisingly very limited. The

current study investigated attitudes of off‌icers and offenders toward and

predictors of four different community supervision strategies based on

data collected in Hubei, China, in 2103 and 2016. The study found that

among demographics, community variables, and value factor, the mutual

trust value factor was the most important predictor of community supervi-

sion strategies by both off‌icers and offenders. Additional f‌indings and policy

implications are discussed.

Keywords

china, community corrections, views toward community corrections,

community corrections supervision

1

Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA

2

Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China

3

The University of Nevada, Reno, USA

Corresponding Author:

Dawei Zhang, Institute of China Rural Studies, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China

430079.

Email: zhangsir0619@sina.com

Article

The Prison Journal

2022, Vol. 102(1) 84–107

© 2022 SAGE Publications

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/00328855211069305

journals.sagepub.com/home/tpj

Introduction

Supervision is commonly believed to be the backbone of community correc-

tions (Taxman, 2008). However, community supervision’s success is also

affected by attitudes toward community supervision strategies and other

factors (Dembo, 1972; Jiang et al., 2020; Ricks & Eno Louden, 2015;

Steiner et al., 2011). Empirical studies have provided evidence for the

attitudes-outcome linkage in community supervision (see Ricks & Eno

Louden, 2015). Furthermore, both off‌icers and offenders are major compo-

nents of community supervision. Thus, in order to select an appropriate super-

vision strategy and have effective community corrections, understanding how

both off‌icers and offenders view supervision strategies is critical.

Research on attitudes toward supervision strategies f‌irst began with off‌i-

cers. In 1956, Ohlin, Piven, and Pappenfort initiated a pioneer study on pro-

bation and parole off‌icer orientations, and they classif‌ied them as punitive,

protective, and welfare. Other scholars followed suit and further ref‌ined

these classif‌ications. In 1969, Glaser researched parole off‌icers’attitudes

toward law enforcement and rehabilitation models. Following Glaser’s

study, Clear and Latessa (1993) analyzed 31 off‌icers from two intensive

supervision sites in Ohio and Georgia. Their f‌indings suggested that an

authority orientation was linked to a surveillance approach, while an assis-

tance orientation was associated with rehabilitation strategies. More recently,

Schwalbe and Maschi (2009) found that off‌icers with punishment orientations

had an accountability approach in their interventions, while off‌icers with

treatment orientations had a rehabilitative approach to supervision. In their

investigation of the relationship between parole off‌icers’attitudes toward

supervision and their responses to offender behavior in Ohio, Steiner et al.

(2011) reported that off‌icers’attitudes inf‌luenced their supervision responses.

Based on a national survey of frontline community correctional staff in the

U.S., Miller (2014) found that punishment orientations were positively

related to off‌icers’crime-opportunity prevention and law enforcement strat-

egies, while rehabilitation orientations were positively related to their use

of therapeutic strategies. Jiang et al. (2019) examined the relationship

between supervision views and supervision practices in Chinese community

corrections, and found that supervision views predicted supervision strat-

egies. In general, previous studies focused on whether off‌icers’views of

supervision affected their supervision practices.

More recently, scholars have begun to focus on the attitudes of probation-

ers and parolees toward community supervision. For example, Shapland et al.

(2012) studied probationers’views of the quality and effectiveness of com-

munity supervision. Chui and Chan (2014) explored male juvenile offenders’

Jiang et al.85