Environmental Corrections: A New Paradigm for Supervising Offenders in the Community

A new paradigm for supervising offenders in the community   Environmental Corrections is an innovative guide filled with rich insights and strategies for probation and parole officers to effectively integrate offenders back into the community and reduce recidivism. Authors Lacey Schaefer, Francis T. Cullen, and John E. Eck move beyond traditional models for interventions and build directly on the applied focus of environmental criminology theories. Using this approach, the authors answer the question of what officers can do to decrease opportunities for an offender to commit a crime. Readers will learn how to recognize and assess specific criminal opportunities in an offender’s past and gain the tools and strategies they need to design an individualized supervision plan that channels offenders away from these criminogenic situations.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Why Offender Supervision Does Not Work The Invention of Probation and Parole: Treatment and Control The Limited Effectiveness of Offender Supervision Why Treatment Does Not Work Why Control Does Not Work Conclusion: A New Paradigm for Offender Supervision Chapter 2: Why Opportunity Matters The Evolution of Crime Science Crime Science and Opportunity Reduction Conclusion: Opportunity-Reduction Supervision Chapter 3: How to Supervise Offenders Current Offender Supervision Practices Introduction to Environmental Corrections Supervision Identifying Exposure to Crime Opportunities Considering Gender Creating the Offender’s Case Plan Modifying the Offender’s Case Plan Graduated Consequences Earned Discharge and Aftercare Chapter 4: Developing Offender Supervision Technology Offender Assessment and Classification Identifying Opportunities for Crime Opportunity-Reduction Case Plans Chapter 5: Getting Offenders to Think Right Reducing Propensity Opportunity Resistance Opportunity Avoidance Chapter 6: How the Police Can Help Increasing the Supervision of Offenders Increasing the Supervision of Targets and Places Increasing the Surveillance by Crime Controllers Chapter 7: Making Offender Supervision Work Lesson #1: Punishment Does Not Work Well Lesson #2: Reducing Crime Opportunities Reduces Crime Lesson #3: Environmental Corrections Can Reduce Crime Opportunities Lesson #4: Crime Opportunities Must Be Assessed Lesson #5: Cognitive-Behavioral Techniques Can Help Lesson #6: The Police Make Excellent Community Corrections Partners Lesson #7: Research Is Needed Lesson #8: Opportunity-Reduction Supervision Can Work

About the Author :
Lacey Schaefer is Lecturer in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University.  She received her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati.  She previously worked as a Research Fellow for the University of Cincinnati Policing Institute and in the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence in Policing and Security, exploring the impact of community efforts on crime-reduction interventions and the disruption of offending pathways. Professor Schaefer’s publications apply criminological theory to community and correctional interventions, examining the intersection of research and practice.  In 2013, she coauthored Monitoring Offenders on Conditional Release in the Problem-Oriented Guides for Police series.  Among other forums, her writings have appeared in the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency and The Prison Journal.  Her current research explores the individual and community predictors of crime-controller actions, outlining the processes associated with crime-opportunity reduction. Francis T. Cullen is Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus and Senior Research Associate in the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati, where he also holds a joint appointment in sociology. He received a Ph.D. (1979) in sociology and education from Columbia University. Professor Cullen has published more than 500 works in the areas of criminological theory, corrections, white-collar crime, public opinion, sexual victimization, and the criminology of Donald Trump. He is author of Rethinking Crime and Deviance Theory: The Emergence of a Structuring Tradition and is coauthor of Reaffirming Rehabilitation, Correctional Theory: Context and Consequences, Environmental Corrections: A New Paradigm for Supervising Offenders in the Community, Criminology, Communities and Crime: An Enduring American Challenge, Corporate Crime Under Attack: The Ford Pinto Case and Beyond, Combating Corporate Crime: Local Prosecutors at Work, Unsafe in the Ivory Tower: The Sexual Victimization of College Women, and Confronting School Violence: A Synthesis of Six Decades of Research. He also is coeditor of Criminological Theory: Past to Present—Essential Readings, Taking Stock: The Status of Criminological Theory, The Origins of American Criminology, Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory, The Oxford Handbook of Criminological Theory, Challenging Criminological Theory: The Legacy of Ruth Rosner Kornhauser, Sisters in Crime Revisited: Bringing Gender Into Criminology, Delinquency and Drift Revisited: The Criminology of David Matza and Beyond, Deterrence, Choice, and Crime: Contemporary Perspectives, The Oxford Handbook of White-Collar Crime, The American Prison: Imagining a Different Future, and Crime and Victimization in the Trump Era. Professor Cullen is a Past President of the American Society of Criminology and of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. In 2010, he received the ASC Edwin H. Sutherland Award. In 2013, he was honored by his alma mater, Bridgewater State University, with a Doctorate in Public Service. He was selected as the Winner of the 2022 Stockholm Prize in Criminology. John E. Eck is Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati, where he teaches police effectiveness and crime prevention. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Michigan, and his doctorate from the University of Maryland’s Department of Criminology. Professor Eck has conducted research into police operations since 1977, and served as the Research Director for the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF).  At PERF, he spearheaded the development of problem-oriented policing throughout the U.S. He was also the Evaluation Coordinator for Law Enforcement at the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, and a consultant to the London Metropolitan Police, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Police Foundation, and other organizations.  His research has focused on the development of problem-oriented policing, police effectiveness, crime patterns, and crime prevention. He is particularly interested in concentrations of crime in very small areas, how these form, and what can be done to prevent crime at these places.  Professor Eck was a member of the National Academy of Science’s Committee to Review Research on Police Policy and Practices. He is the coauthor (with Ronald Clarke) of Crime Analysis for Problem-Solvers: In 60 Small Steps, as well as the coauthor of many publications on problem-oriented policing, crime mapping, crime prevention, and problem places. He is a coauthor of the forthcoming Place Matters: Criminology for the 21st Century (Cambridge University Press).

Review :
"For more than a half century, scholars have contested whether offender supervision should emphasize treatment or control.  Drawing on the insights of environmental criminology, Schaefer and colleagues move beyond this increasingly stale debate by proposing a truly innovative approach to community corrections: using supervision to limit offenders vulnerability to criminal opportunities.  Scholarly yet accessible, this volume promises to be a contemporary classic in the field of corrections." "This book breaks important new ground by integrating environmental criminology and place-based ideas into community supervision of offenders.  The idea of "environmental corrections" is not just new and intriguing; it presents a new approach to doing something about an important part of the crime problem." "A text like Environmental Corrections is a hot cake in the field of criminal justice, especially in the branch of Corrections. It addresses the whole components of correctional system in a systematic method. It uses a comprehensive approach to explain to readers the environment in which the modern day correction systems operate. By breaking down the theory of correction in Chapter one, the author makes it easier for readers to appreciate the discussions in the Environmental Correction.  I believe the use of this book in my correction class would add more flavor in explaining the process of corrections in America." "This book has the potential to be for community corrections what Goldstein’s Problem Oriented Policing was and still is for policing." "This may well be the most important book on community corrections in decades.  It takes a mountain of research evidence from a staggering variety of sources and consolidates it into a roadmap for the future.  The ugly truth is that American corrections is broken.  Environmental Corrections may well be the approach necessary to repair a critical part of it.  The authors have brutally assaulted the mantra that "nothing works" by showing otherwise". "It’s an important book – well-written and well-argued. Even though it may ask a lot from probation and parole officers, it certainly provides a standard to aspire to." "Strengths: Thoroughness, Inclusion of forms and excellent figures, Practical discussions" "I would be very likely to seriously consider this as a supplementary text to my Community Corrections class.  I also think it would be a good addition to my Police and Community course"