Cents and sensibility: A case study of corrections reform in Kansas and Michigan

Rengifo, Andrés F.; Stemen, Don; Dooley, Brendan D.; Amidon, Ethan; Gendon, Amanda

doi:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2010.04.010

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Support was also found for the hypothesis that Republican Party strength in state legislatures was associated with constrained or limited correctional policy revision in 2009. This finding supports prior research showing that party strength in state legislatures is a powerful contextual force in policy activity at the state level (Davies & Worden, 2009; Jacobs & Helms, 1996, 1999; Rengifo, Stemen, Dooley, Amidon, & Gendon, 2010; Smith, 2004; Stucky et al, 2007; Yates & Fording, 2005). Republican strength appears to have constrained policy enactments to reduce reliance on incarceration in 2009.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Foreclosing on Incarceration? State Correctional Policy Enactments and the Great Recession

Brown

2012

Criminal Justice Policy Review

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The economic collapse of 2008 has forced states to reconsider their priorities in punishment and corrections. States have exhibited a wide range of responses to the fiscal crisis. Using data from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), this article reviews briefly the types of correctional policies enacted by states in 2009. This research then evaluates quantitatively the relationships between state-level economic, political, and crime control conditions in 2009 and variable rates of state-level policy enactments in that same year that reduce reliance on incarceration. Findings from a cross-sectional negative binomial model suggest that three factors were associated with state enactments in 2009 that reduce reliance on incarceration: percentage of seats held by the Republican Party in state legislatures, amount of state revenue, and percentage of federal funds used for corrections expenditures.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Foreclosing on Incarceration? State Correctional Policy Enactments and the Great Recession

Brown

2012

Criminal Justice Policy Review

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“…The reforms prompted new lines of policy coordination through the creation of multiagency teams to address issues such as housing and access to other social services (e.g., addiction services and health/mental health services). Reforms also included the enhanced use of “boundary spanners” in the form of KDOC staff embedded in other state institutions to mobilize their resources for high‐risk prisoners and parolees (Pettus and Severson, ; Rengifo et al., ). Importantly, in 2007, the state legislature passed SB 14 creating incentives for local community corrections programs to reduce revocations in the short term through a flexible set of mechanisms including risk‐reduction protocols.…”

Section: Risk‐reduction Reforms In Kansasmentioning

confidence: 99%

When Policy Comes to Town: Discourses and Dilemmas of Implementation of a Statewide Reentry Policy in Kansas

Rengifo¹,

Stemen

Amidon

2017

Criminology

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In this case study, we document challenges to reform implementation posed by line staff, supervisors, and managers during a large-scale realignment of the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) in which they sought to replace a traditional approach of "risk containment" focused on surveillance and incarceration with a new model of "risk reduction" focused on service delivery and reintegration. We draw on interviews, observations, and archival research to document the staff's discursive challenges to the rollout of the new policy. More specifically, we describe how varying challenges to the reforms-"denial," "dismissal," and "defiance"-reflect actors' positions within the organization, the local contexts in which they operate, and more general frames of interpretation of the long-term orientation of the KDOC. We integrate these perspectives to contribute to the ongoing expansion of conventional models of penal change that highlight the role of actors and local social and institutional context as moderators of the gap between "law on the books" and "law in action."In 2006, the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) formalized an agency-wide, multiyear process of reorganization. The series of reforms-collectively known as the Kansas Offender Risk Reduction and Reentry Plan (KOR3P)-were intended to replace the KDOC's traditional approach of risk containment focused on surveillance, enforcement, and incarceration with a new model of risk reduction focused on rehabilitation, service delivery, and prisoner reintegration (KDOC, 2006). As noted in The New York Times, the initiative was aimed at offering "a hand instead of cuffs" (Eckholm, 2008). Through these reforms, new programs were established and corrections officers, counselors, and parole officers were retained in new assessment tools, new communication techniques, and new intervention protocols. Additional positions were created through an upgraded division of Reentry Services staffed with specialists in charge of coordinating services for high-risk prisoners and parolees (Pellant et al., 2007). Finally, also through these reforms, collaborations with partners were realigned, recentralizing *We are grateful to Rosemary Gardner and the anonymous reviewers of Criminology for their helpful suggestions, comments, and guidance.

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“…In Kansas, legislators enacted the Safe Communities Act (SB 1476), which appropriated $4 million to provide community development funds for local jurisdictions that pledged to reduce probation and parole revocation rates by 20 percent (Greene and Mauer ; Rengifo et al. ; Pew Center on the States ). To accomplish this reduction, the state encouraged probation departments to adopt evidence‐based supervision practices, developed intermediate sanctions, and implemented guidelines for determining appropriate reactions to probation violations.…”

Section: Untangling Probation and Incarceration Trendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Paradox of Probation: Community Supervision in the Age of Mass Incarceration

Phelps¹

2013

Law & Policy

193

168

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After four decades of steady growth, U.S. states’ prison populations finally appear to be declining, driven by a range of sentencing and policy reforms. One of the most popular reform suggestions is to expand probation supervision in lieu of incarceration. However, the classic socio-legal literature suggests that expansions of probation instead widen the net of penal control and lead to higher incarceration rates. This article reconsiders probation in the era of mass incarceration, providing the first comprehensive evaluation of the role of probation in the build-up of the criminal justice system. The results suggest that probation was not the primary driver of mass incarceration in most states, nor is it likely to be a simple panacea to mass incarceration. Rather, probation serves both capacities, acting as an alternative and as a net-widener, to varying degrees across time and place. Moving beyond the question of diversion versus net widening, this article presents a new theoretical model of the probation-prison link that examines the mechanisms underlying this dynamic. Using regression models and case studies, I analyze how states can modify the relationship between probation and imprisonment by changing sentencing outcomes and the practices of probation supervision. When combined with other key efforts, reforms to probation can be part of the movement to reverse mass incarceration.

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Cents and sensibility: A case study of corrections reform in Kansas and Michigan

Cited by 7 publications

References 25 publications

Foreclosing on Incarceration? State Correctional Policy Enactments and the Great Recession

Foreclosing on Incarceration? State Correctional Policy Enactments and the Great Recession

When Policy Comes to Town: Discourses and Dilemmas of Implementation of a Statewide Reentry Policy in Kansas

The Paradox of Probation: Community Supervision in the Age of Mass Incarceration

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