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Pennsylvania DOC Parole Outcome Study

New book by John Shuford

Mid 21st Century Criminal Justice: Transforming Work Culture

Much has been written about the problems within our criminal justice system, both law enforcement and corrections, but never before has that been presented along with the causes of those problems and specific strategies to correct them. This unique and remarkable book, based on Shuford’s 30 years of experience, is a must read for criminal justice policy makers, leadership, supervisors as well as educators in preparing students for careers in criminal justice. This content packed text will lead the reader from research based consequences of criminal justice employee stress through an analysis of neurological and cultural variables that contribute to that stress to comprehensive yet precisely designed strategies for change and how to apply them. It is a practical guide for criminal justice leadership, training academies; and educators will find it an invaluable supplemental text for advanced policing and corrections courses and criminal justice administration and management courses. It is about time that the criminal justice field had such a resource to carry it into the 21st century.

Mid 21st Century Criminal Justice
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This book should be included in any curriculum in Criminal Justice Studies. It describes dysfunctional culture within the prison system and documents the damage this culture inflicts on the health of prison employees. More importantly, it provides a vision for a more healthy culture of prison administration, and draws on the author’s three decades of experience providing workshops in prisons to lay out a path for culture change and transformation of the prison system. It is a valuable resource for those preparing for criminal justice work, for current supervisors and other criminal justice employees, and for policy makers.

Vernie Davis

Professor Emeritus of Cultural Anthropology and Peace & Conflict Studies and Former Director Conflict Resolution Resource Center, Guilford College

The psychological and physical health needs of Criminal Justice staff beyond the necessary but not sufficient “going home safe at the end of the shift” is finally receiving the attention it deserves. Agency training catalogues, selection and promotion processes, and employee cultures are under the wellness microscope in many locations. If you work in one of those jurisdictions or would like to pave the way for such an initiative, this text is a must. In this content packed text, the reader will be led from research-based consequences of criminal justice employee stress through an analysis of both the neurological and cultural variables that contribute to that stress to a comprehensive yet precisely designed strategy for change, which John has developed during his 30-year career. You will find powerful descriptions of not just what strategies to use, but how to apply them, and what behavioral and psychological principles they address.

Gregory Morton, M.Sc

Administrator of Staff Training and Professional Development (Retd.), Oregon Department of Corrections

Awesome work, law enforcement leaders and BLET instructors should read. What is clear, we must train today’s generation of employees differently. This book highlights the need for law enforcement training in effective communication and interpersonal skills, which are crucial in today’s climate. The tried-and-true para-military instruction has its place, but there is a difference between training soldiers and officers. The military is focused on killing the enemy, but in law enforcement there is no enemy, just one human engaging with another human. The theme of human engaging type training presented in this book will benefit law enforcement into the next century. John supports that need to change as we prepare our future officers and leaders of law enforcement.

B.J. Council

Deputy Police Chief (Ret), Owner, You & Five-O, LLC, Durham NC

It is excellent, right on target! A practical guide for leadership with some very real and true real world examples that can be understood at any level. Changing the work culture is so very important, equally as important as improving pay and benefits that many seem to be continually focused on as the only need.…..but without the culture improvements agencies will continue to struggle with turnover and the poor health and life expectancy of staff despite pay improvements.

Tim Moose

Chief Deputy Secretary , NC Department of Public Safety, Adult Correction & Juvenile Justice

Mid-21st Century Criminal Justice: Transforming the Work Culture is an essential read for both law enforcement and correctional executives if they want to implement proven strategies to retain talented staff. For educators, it is also a useful supplemental text for an advanced policing or corrections course or a criminal justice administration and management course. Shuford first focuses on why traditional work cultures in policing and corrections are problematic and then provides tangible and actionable solutions to reform work culture to improve morale. A supplemental text that incorporates practical application is a welcome addition for courses that examine management, administration, and leadership in policing and correctional contexts. 

Dr. Heidi S. Bonner

Director, Criminal Justice Department, East Carolina University

This book provides a comprehensive look at the systemic problems inherent in law enforcement agencies. What I found unique and remarkable is that the book also offers ways to change the culture to make it work more effectively.

As a trauma therapist, I know how important it is to address the psychological issues that emerge with  staff who are in a constant state of stress. There are programs that deal with the trauma experienced by the inmates; however little has been done concerning staff.

I have worked with John doing trauma related activities in a prison and I have seen how effective John’s experiential program has been.  To truly understand the necessary changes needed in the system, one must understand trauma. This book provides the history of trauma, how it remains in the cells of one’s body and the impact of trauma on not just a person, but the family and community outside of the job. It is easy to talk about what is wrong, harder to give examples of how the system can be improved.

John Shuford’s book would be helpful as a resource to criminal justice students, supervisory staff in law enforcement and those working with the impact of trauma. It is filled with examples and provides a realistic guide in ways to deal with the trauma of working in a nonsupportive, outdated system. 

Elinor H. Brody MSS, LCSW

Australian Interview with John on Trauma From the Front Line

John was interviewed by Bruce Perham on his podcast program “Trauma From the Front Line” which is a podcast series directed at correctional officers and frontline responders to provide them with access to a wide range of psychologists working in the trauma fields, key stakeholders in the emergency sector and individuals willing to share their experiences of trauma in the delivering of their frontline occupations. The focus is educational and the goal is to encourage people to be proactive in managing their own mental health and for people who need help to find the pathway to achieving it.

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The Pennsylvania Department of Correction’s (PA DOC) did a Parole Violator Study. The intent of the study was to determine the factors relating to success or failure on parole and to assemble a broad inventory of the needs of released offenders in order to prioritize departmental resources and develop more effective treatment services. The study showed the critical importance of pro-social/emotional intelligence skills for successful re-entry. The Immersive-Experiential © training design has proven very effective as an Emotional Intelligence inoculation. Here is a summary of the study’s findings and a link to the publish report from the study.

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Summary and Policy Implications

  1. Simply finding a job and a place to live are not the major reentry concerns that they are sometimes considered.
  2. There is a clear link between anti-social peer groups and recidivism.
  3. Parole violators had more difficulty with basic life skills, e.g., financial management.
  4. Substance abuse relapse is correlated with parole violation.
  5. Parole successes had more positive relationships with partner/spouse, had a mentor and had a good experience with community corrections.
  6. The overarching theme is that there are three primary factors differentiating successes from failures:
  • Parole violators maintain more unrealistic post-release life expectations.
  • Parole violators demonstrate more anti-social attitudes, values and beliefs.
  • Parole violators have poor coping or problem solving skills.

Successes clearly went through the same rough times and faced the same types of problems and emotional difficulties that violators experienced.

There was a general anti-social disposition among violators.  They were more likely:

  1. View violating parole as an acceptable option of behavior.
  2. Maintain a general lack of empathy for others.
  3. Shift blame or deny responsibility for negative behavior.

Many violators could identify their problems but could not come up with a strategy for addressing them.  They were not shy about providing long explanations for why they had previously violated parole, but they were unable to provide a cogent response to how they would handle the future.

Some sort of dysphoric emotion [e.g., stress, depression, frustration, worry, anger, etc.] was the strongest emotion experienced during the 48 hours preceding parole violation.  Dysphoric emotions also tend to be cumulative, with a majority of violators experiencing multiple types of dysphoric emotions preceding violation characterized by a variety of confusing and unpleasant emotions.  Clearly a correlation was present between being in a dysphoric emotional state and violating parole.  

Recommendations:

  1. Offender programming should focus on cognitive-behavioral types of treatment.
  2. Teach financial responsibility and money management skills.
  3. Move beyond employment and housing and teach employability skills and instill a positive attitude towards employment.
  4. Instill overall pro-social attitudes, including inter-personal relationships and community supervision.
  5. Maintain positive pro-social relationships [mentor, spouse, counselor, etc].
  6. Intensive types of substance abuse treatment programs, such as TCs.
  7. In-prison programs encourage offenders to maintain realistic post-release expectations.

Source: https://www.cor.pa.gov/About%20Us/Statistics/Documents/Research%20In%20Review/RIRV9N4.pdf