“What works” and “how”: A continuous, critical conversation in corrections

Abstract

First and foremost, I had the pleasure to work with the European Journal of Probation’s Editorial Board and staff and want to thank them for their hard work and this opportunity. This Special Issue of the European Journal of Probation delves into American probation and parole models, practices, and policies, stemming from an American Society of Criminology panel from 2019. The articles in this issue revolve around different types of models, practices, and policies, but also specifically on their implementation and sustainability. This Special Issue offers timely insight regarding “what works” and “how” in community corrections as the field continues to grow, with approximately 4.4 million individuals supervised on probation or parole at year-end 2018 in the United States (Maruschak and Minton, 2020). However, understanding how these models, practices, and policies implement in real-world settings is of utmost importance—an effective program or practice implemented poorly is unlikely to result in desired outcomes (Fixsen et al., 2009). Implementation, adaptation or modification, and sustainability of evidencebased practices (EBPs) also has received very little, albeit growing, attention in the field of corrections. I hope that this issue provides interesting and useful information and considerations for correctional agencies regarding implementation and sustainability of models, practices, and policies from the clients, to staff, to the organization as a whole. This Special Issue should allow us to think critically about how correctional research can best be translated into working with effectively and efficiently with correctional agencies, staff, and their clients, create collaborative working relationships between researchers and those that work in the field, and identify areas of success and areas for improvement. In this issue, models, practices, and policies discussed include the risk-need-responsivity (RNR) model of offender assessment and rehabilitation, core correctional practices (CCPs), as well as Swift, Certain, and Fair (SCF) community supervision practices (also referred to as the HOPE model or Swift and Certain (SAC) models). The RNR model of assessment and rehabilitation identifies principles that can effectively reduce recidivism— matching level of service to level of risk for recidivism, matching services and programming that target risk factors that are amenable to change (criminogenic needs), and matching the style and mode of learning to individuals while also using treatment models most effective among justice-involved populations (e.g. cognitive-behavioral techniques, social learning-based practices, etc.) (Bonta and Andrews, 2017). In addition, another article discusses the integration of social capital as part of the RNR model of offender assessment and rehabilitation. Further, this Special Issue also includes information on paroling authorities and their support and incorporation of evidence-based practices (EBPs). Among 982402 EJP0010.1177/2516043520982402European Journal of ProbationEditorial 2020