The Wisdom of a Corrections Leader

Don Evans: The Musings of a Community Corrections Legend. Edited by the staff of the American Probation and Parole Association. Lexington, Kentucky: American Probation and Parole Association, 2008, 383 pp., $40.00 (leather), $14.00 (paper).

Reviewed by Dan Richard Beto, Editor, Executive Exchange, Huntsville, Texas

Perhaps no person has had a greater impact on correctional organizations than Donald G. Evans, President of the Board of the Canadian Training Institute in Toronto, Ontario, who has served as President of the American Probation and Parole Association and the International Community Corrections Association. Moreover, he has served on various boards and committees of the American Correctional Association, National Association of Probation Executives, and a host of other criminal justice organizations. He has also traveled the world to study other justice systems and to participate in international corrections conferences.

In addition to his involvement in professional organizations, Don has recorded an impressive history of government service in Canada that spans four decades. As a result of his career in criminal justice, coupled with his unquenchable thirst for knowledge and a commitment to disseminating what he has learned, Don has contributed prolifically to criminal justice literature. From 1982 to the present, Don has published over 150 articles and book reviews in journals peculiar to the criminal justice profession. His scholarship has appeared in such publications as Executive Exchange, Corrections Today, Correctional Options, Perspectives, Journal of Community Corrections, The Police Governor, Corrections Management Quarterly, CEP Bulletin, Texas Probation, The Volunteer Newsletter, Coast to Coast, and the Canadian Journal of Sociology.

This year the American Probation and Parole Association, with the assistance of the National Association of Probation Executives, American Correctional Association, and the International Community Corrections Association, published a collection of most of Don's writings. In the book's foreword, Carl Wicklund, Executive Director of the American Probation and Parole Association, writes:

This collection of articles, interviews, and essays written by Don Evans was created to honor and record his role in the development of a variety of community corrections practices and policies that serves as a lasting legacy of a respected and valued professional.

Canadian Don Evans has served as a leader, historian, sounding board, arbitrator, confidant, mentor, voice of reason, ambassador, harbinger, keynote presenter, scribe and a number of other roles for myriad permanent and ad hoc groups concerned with community corrections in the United States, Canada and throughout the world. He is internationally recognized for his insights, knowledge, worldview and forward thinking that have been presented through his speeches, training programs, consultations and writings. Most people who have paid attention to the evolution of community corrections over the past thirty plus years know of Don Evans or have read some pieces he has written on a subject related to community corrections.

The book is divided into a number of sections: book reviews; criminal justice collaborations; specific issues; offender supervision; reentry; substance abuse; what works; youth violence; and the American Probation and Parole Association. Information on successful correctional practices and initiatives, a historical perspective of trends in the criminal justice system, and insights in leadership may be found in this volume.

Carl Wicklund and the staff at the American Probation and Parole Association are to be commended for producing this lasting tribute to a wise correctional leader. Likewise, we are indebted to Don Evans for his willingness to share his wisdom and experiences with us. Don Evans: The Musings of a Community Corrections Legend is an excellent resource that should be in the personal libraries of all serious corrections practitioners.

As a closing thought, because Don remains active and continues to contribute to the scholarship of the corrections profession, APPA would be well advised to plan for a Volume II.

Dan Richard Beto is Editor, Executive Exchange,National Association of Probation Executives, Huntsville, Texas.

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Community Safety and Crime Prevention

Crime Prevention in America.
By Dean John Champion. Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2007, 543 pp., $71.20 paper.

Reviewed by Donald G. Evans
Toronto, Ontario

Public fear of crime, whether real or imagined, continues as a major subject of public discourse and informs political responses to crime. One positive result of this trend has been the emphasis placed on the prevention of crime and efforts at improved security measures in all aspects of urban life. At the same time, an interest has developed in evidence-based policy making and this is driving both the academic and practitioner communities to evaluate programs contributing to crime prevention.

Dean John Champion from Texas A & M International University in Laredo has compiled a very interesting and useful collection of articles dealing with crime prevention. His book is divided into six sections, covering the history of crime prevention, law enforcement, courts, corrections, and juvenile justice efforts related to the prevention of crime and delinquency. The last section of the book is comprised of a number of evaluations of prevention programs. This is a large volume of 51 chapters and well over half of the chapters are devoted to the critical area of program evaluations and the policy implications for future programming.

The author opens each section with an informative introduction that assists the reader to contextually place the articles that follow. The author’s contribution on the history of crime prevention in the United States is a concise and careful overview that is a worthwhile read for any one new to this topic. In the section on law enforcement efforts, the article by Byrne and Hummer on the role of police in reentry partnerships provides a good examination of this issue. Among the articles in the court section, the article on listening to victims is a thought-provoking critique of restorative justice policy and practice.

Two articles in the correctional section caught my attention. The first discusses understanding and responding to the needs of parole violators. This is a subject that demands more examination, especially with the expected increase in the use of parole in some jurisdictions. The second article deals with offender resistance in counselling and is a useful and practical introduction to engaging offenders in therapeutic efforts. The article on what works in juvenile justice outcome measurement in the section on delinquency prevention is another article worthy of a close and careful reading.

The last section, dealing with program evaluations, is the largest in the book and covers a greater number of program areas. Champion’s book provides plenty of material that can be used in classroom settings and in the various agencies that cover the justice field. Among the program evaluations contained here are evaluations of electronic monitoring, problem-solving probation, and the effectiveness of parole. Two other good pieces worth reading are Byrne and Taxman’s examination of targeting for reentry and Cullen, Eck, and Lowenkamp’s discussion of environmental corrections as a paradigm for effective probation supervision.

I believe this book will be very useful in either a college classroom or agency staff training setting for three reasons. First, the book is exhaustive, covering every facet of the criminal justice system. Second, the introductory preface to each section and the questions for review and discussion that follow each article serve as springboards for further examination. And finally, the majority of the articles have been culled from the journals and newsletters of practitioner associations or organizations, such as Federal Probation, Corrections Today, and Perspectives. Champion has done a service to corrections professions by gathering together this collection and making the articles available to a larger audience than the authors could ever hope to have reached.

 

Timely Intervention

Social Work in Juvenile and Criminal Justice Settings (3rd edition). Edited by Albert R. Roberts and David W. Springer; forward by Dean Barbara W. White. Charles C. Thomas Publisher, 2007; 438 pages ($69.95).

Reviewed by Kenneth Hardin, Student in the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice, University of South Alabama.

Social Work in Juvenile and Criminal Justice Settings explores historical and contemporary efforts by social workers to provide services to criminal justice clientele. Many authors (approximately 40 contribute to this collection) outline the benefits of counseling and therapeutic programming for the offender – especially the young offender. The subject of crisis intervention for the crime victim is also presented. The book furnishes a broad overview of the social work profession and encompasses the role that it plays in law enforcement, judicial, and correctional processes. This book is divided into six sections, among which are: Evolving Trends, Policies, and Practices, Juvenile Justice Policies and Practices, and Probation, Parole, and Court Settings. Overall, there are thirty-one chapters.

Generally, chapters emphasize the importance of early intervention and treatment. The reader will quickly learn that one reward for timely intervention is crime prevention. Prevention reduces the personal costs associated with victimization as well as the financial costs associated with investigating, apprehending, prosecuting and punishing the offender. For each offender that is successfully treated and reformed, society is spared untold loss.

Evidence strongly links poor attendance and a failure to complete treatment with recidivism. This work also discusses the lack of attention given to the mental health of the juvenile offender, as well as the effects associated with programs that might best be described as understaffed and under-funded. The authors also observe that current get-tough initiatives aimed at the adult offender are becoming increasingly popular when dealing with the delinquent.

The authors present many actual cases of offenders. These cases reveal the intricacies of criminality and the difficulty of addressing underlying causes. Concerns are raised about the hesitancy of the government to adopt a reform orientation, with some authors arguing that this lack of interest may perpetuate criminality. Much of the coverage concerning policy and offender-reform is found in the chapter titled “Correctional Policies: Evolving Trends,” where policy is considered within the larger framework of rehabilitation.

Interestingly, the case of Michael Purcell is offered as evidence of this official hesitancy. Purcell, a 37-year-old felon on school-furlough, was attending the University of Alaska-Anchorage. By all accounts he was a model student. However, when he sought entry into the social work program, he was refused, based upon his criminal record. Purcell’s experience illustrates the common practice of excluding felons from programs that might be personally and socially beneficial. This case and others like it depict problems associated with offender reform, offender reintegration, and the lasting stigma attached to formalized criminal justice processing.

Another issue addressed in this book is the relationship between courts and minors. It is alleged that the practice of parens patriae is occasionally ignored or misunderstood by some officials. Carolyn Needleman, author of the chapter on “Conflicting Philosophies of Juvenile Justice,” attributes this problem not only to a lack of understanding by some officials, but also to the detrimental effects of exceedingly large dockets. Another interesting topic included in this book is the Nurturing Practice Model (NPM) of treatment. Described in Chapter 16, this model helps parents and troubled youth develop a renewed sense of direction and self worth, countering the effects of harsh sentencing on youthful offenders. This chapter suggests that while harsh punishments have their place when dealing with young offenders, reform should continue to be the goal of the juvenile justice professional. By retaining a reform orientation, these professionals may be sparing youthful offenders future entry into the adult system. Again, early intervention is touted as the preferred method of dealing with the juvenile offender whenever possible.

As one of the most comprehensive books of its kind, this collection is likely to remain required reading for those interested in the social sciences. It is organized and written in a manner that readily lends itself to undergraduate and graduate coursework. Exceeding 400 information-packed pages, it can also serve as a valuable reference tool for the criminal justice professional. The reader will not be disappointed in the amount of information contained therein. I heartily recommend this collection as a well-rounded presentation of the spectrum of social work efforts within the criminal justice setting.