Effective Probation and Parole Supervision for Women and Men

Goals of Our Research:

• Document effective communication and relationship style of probation and parole agents with diverse groups of offenders
• Demonstrate and show the effects of the types of support that people on probation and parole receive from their agents
• Determine characteristics of "quality message" from probation and agents to the people they supervise
• Show differences in how agents communicate with men and women they supervise and how men and women react to these communications
• Show differences in the relationships agents have with men and women and how men and women react to different relationship styles

Goals Specific to Women:

• Explain how women with extensive criminal histories change their identities to connect their pasts to support present law-abiding behavior
• Determine what needs that are common or unique to women, and those that are shared with men, predict recidivism

Goals for Informing Practices:

• Identify measurable dimensions of officers' interactions that best predict desired outcomes so that these can be taught in training and education programs