TY - JOUR
T1 - The Process of Classification in Prisons
T2 - A Descriptive Study of Staff Use of the System
AU - MacKenzie, Doris Layton
AU - Buchanan, Robert A.
N1 - Funding Information:
The process of classification is examined in a southern U.S. prison system. Staff directly involved in classification activities in the seven prisons for males, one prison for females and the diagnostic center reported on their classification activities. Factors thought by staff to be important in classifying an offender, use of the diagnostic classification summary, and staff knowledge of the capabilities of other institutions in the system were examined. Staff perceptions of the importance and accuracy of different sources of information and the 1. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the American Socie-ty of Criminology Annual Meeting in Montreal, Canada, November 1987. This study was supported by the National Institute of Corrections, U.S. Departmsnt of Justice grant number GK-3. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Institute of Corrections. Appreciation is expressed to the project Advisory Board, Institutional Coordinators and other Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections personnel, who helped with this project. Requests for reprints should be addressed to the senior author at the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, 633 Indiana Ave. N.W., Rm 847, Washington, D.C. 20531.
PY - 1990/1
Y1 - 1990/1
N2 - The process of classification is examined in a southern U.S. prison system. Staff directly involved in classification activities in the seven prisons for males, one prison for females and the diagnostic center reported on their classification activities. Factors thought by staff to be important in classifying an offender, use of the diagnostic classification summary, and staff knowledge of the capabilities of other institutions in the system were examined. Staff perceptions of the importance and accuracy of different sources of information and the discrepancy between the two at initial classification and reclassification were used to develop hypotheses regarding possible changes to facilitate the classification process.
AB - The process of classification is examined in a southern U.S. prison system. Staff directly involved in classification activities in the seven prisons for males, one prison for females and the diagnostic center reported on their classification activities. Factors thought by staff to be important in classifying an offender, use of the diagnostic classification summary, and staff knowledge of the capabilities of other institutions in the system were examined. Staff perceptions of the importance and accuracy of different sources of information and the discrepancy between the two at initial classification and reclassification were used to develop hypotheses regarding possible changes to facilitate the classification process.
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U2 - 10.1080/0735648X.1990.9721400
DO - 10.1080/0735648X.1990.9721400
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84948884046
SN - 0735-648X
VL - 13
SP - 1
EP - 26
JO - Journal of Crime and Justice
JF - Journal of Crime and Justice
IS - 1
ER -