Probation officers' roles in intensive supervision: Surveillance versus treatment
This is a study of role conflict in two intensive supervision sites, Ohio and Georgia. Most authorities believe that the traditional roles of probation officers, “social work” and “law enforcement,” conflict and are potentially incompatible. This belief disagrees with the professional idea of role integration, on which little empirical work has been done. In this study, two questionnaires and five cases were given to 31 officers representing two sites with differing organizational philosophies. It was found that both the officers' philosophies and the case tasks varied between the sites. The “law enforcer” role appears to be a product of both personal philosophy and organizational policy, whereas the “social worker” role is influenced more heavily by organizational policy. The idea of role incompatibility was not supported.
v List if Tables xi Chapter I: Introduction 1 Purpose 2 Context 4 Framework 6 Limitations 7 Research Questions 8 Definition of Terms 8 Program Evaluation 9 Significance 10 Summary 10 Chapter II: Literature Review 12 Small Schools 12 Large Urban High Schools 16 SLCs and Teachers 17 Change Theory Driving Small School Structural Reform 18 Personalization 20 Advisory Programs 21 History of Advisory Programs 23 Advisory Purpose 26