The Problem of Educating the Correctional Practitioner

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume 56 Article 6 Issue 1 March

Spring 1965 The rP oblem of Educating the Correctional Practitioner Julian Roebuck

Paul Zelhart

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Recommended Citation Julian Roebuck, Paul Zelhart, The rP oblem of Educating the Correctional Practitioner, 56 J. Crim. L. Criminology & Police Sci. 45 (1965)

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THE PROBLEM OF EDUCATING THE CORRECTIONAL PRACTITIONER

JULIAN ROEBUCK AND PAUL ZELHART*

For the past 20 years members of the field of industrial, training, and treatment objectives.' corrections have devoted much zeal and energy to Thus, what is meant by professionalization is stressing the need for more trained personnel unclear. without devoting much attention to where these People in several occupational and professional personnel are to come from. There is evidence of a categories utilize a variety of techniques and skills dearth of trained personnel in certain position in working with offenders which they have ac- categories within the correctional services,' but, quired from many sources; these people include just how many and what kinds of people are re- the police, jail keepers, correctional officers, quired, where they are required, who is to prepare chaplains, teachers, vocational instructors, psy- them, and how they are to be prepared remain chologists, physicians, recreation directors, in- unanswered. This paper is addressed to the last dustrial and trade supervisors, craftsmen, admin- two questions: who is to prepare them, and how" istrators, maintenance men, cooks, probation they are to be prepared. officers, parole officers, prison counselors. Obvi- ously the overwhelming majority of these people Tmx IssuE OF PROFESSIONALIZATION and many others who work in corrections neither The journal literature during the past ten years draw on a specialized body of correctional knowl- has been replete with articles on the professionali- edge nor are they products of formalized profes- zation of the correctional worker. Despite this sional training. In short a cursory view of work preoccupation with professionalization there is no roles in corrections reveals some professionals full agreement on just who the professional in cor- (physicians, psychologists, research specialists, rections is, and there is consensus certainly neither chaplains, M.S.W.'s, etc.) and myriads of non- in the field nor in the halls of academe pertaining professionals whose vocations preclude profes- to the process of his professionalization. 2 Profes- sionalization (cooks, correctional officers, crafts- sionalization in corrections has been alluded to as: men, maintenance men, etc.). Correctional (1) recognized professionals (physicians, psy- managers by virtue of their varied (if any) aca- chiatrists, psychologists, social workers, teachers, demic backgrounds and the nature of their duties chaplains, etc.) engaged in correctional work; (2) do not qualify as professionals.4 Managers are not the experiential process, i.e., prolonged work con- practitioners. tacts with offenders, through which correctional Hence, the question of professionalization must personnel gain "expert knowledge"; (3) the at- center on what Professor Peter Lejins has termed, tainment of specialized "correctional" case-work "the general correctional workers," "general prac- skills; (4) the acquisition of specialized managerial titioners," engaged in the process of counseling skills and "knowledge" in coordinating custodial, and rehabilitating offenders,5 i.e., probation * Dr. Roebuck is Associate Professor of Sociology officers, parole officers, and prison counselors, or in Louisiana State University. Mr. Zelbart received the M.A, degree in Psychology from San Jose State 3 Johnson, The Professional in Corrections: Status College. He is presently a Teaching Fellow in the Psy- and Prospectus, 40 SocIAL FORCES 171 (1961); TaP- chology Department of the University of Alberta, PAN, CRnra, JUSTICE AND COR.ECTION 561-67 (1960). Canada. 4 On this point the writer disagrees with Professor ' Arden House Conference on Manpower and Train- Elmer H. Johnson, among others, who defines correc- ing for Corrections, Report of Council on Social Work tional managers as professionals. The art of working Education, June 24-26. 1964, (mimeographed) p. 2. with people, of guiding, supervising, directing, or 2 Cressey, Professional Correctional Work and Pro- controlling others is an art, not a profession, whether fessional Work in Correction, 5 N.P.P.A.J. 1 (1959); or not scientific principles are utilized in such endeavors. Tappan, Can the Prison Sysem Be Professionalized?, See Johnson, supra note 3, at 173-74. PROCEEDINGS Am. PRIsoN Ass'N 86 (1949); Jenkins, 5 Lejins, Aspects of Correctional Personnel Training The Professional, 10 CAL. YoUrTr AUTHORITY Q. 29 as Viewed by a College Professor, 191 PROCEEDINGS (1957); Johnson, The Present Level of Social Work in 85TH ANNUAL CONGRESS OF CORRECTION, AM. PRISON Prisons, 9 CRmE Am DELINQUECY 290 (1963). Ass'N (1955). RESEARCH REPORTS [Vol. 56

classification officers. (Professor Walter Reckless parole, and classification officers at the journeyman also shares this point of view.6) These non-medical, level by institutions granting the bachelor of arts so-called professionals are charged with urgent and higher academic degrees: (1) schools of social responsibilities, though in actual correctional work; (2) independent specialized corrections settings they are assigned roles and functions in programs; (3) sequences of courses in criminology the most ambiguous and uncertain terms.7 None- and corrections within departments of sociology; theless, as probation officers, parole officers, and and (4) a series of programs indicating a variety prison counselors, they are expected to have a of interests, emphases, and practices, some of specialized body of "correctional knowledge."8 which are patterned on the recognized disciplinary The delineation of this body of knowledge and the approach and others which utilize interdisciplinary educational process by which it is obtained are curricula. A number of these courses of study are currently the source of controversy. There is found within schools of public administration, little, if any, dispute concerning the preparation social 'welfare, public safety, police science, psy- of correctional personnel, professional or non- chology, and political science. A broad background professional, for other work roles. in the behavioral sciencesu is generally stressed, which may include some courses in criminalistics, THE CONTROVERSY OVER ACADEmrc criminology, and/or penology.u PREPARATION Schools of Social Work There has been an upward trend in the number Interest in the training of social workers for of university and college programs geared toward corrections has grown dramatically in the past pre-service training for corrections since Professor few years. Supporters of this approach include Frank M. Boolsen's surveys of 1949 and 1954.9 The such national agencies as the Division of De- curricular problems focus on selection and in- linquency Service of the United States Childrens tegration. The lack of uniformity of curricular Bureau; the Citizen Action Program of the Na- practices by institutions schooling correctional tional Council orr Crime and Delinquency; and workers is matched by an equally unclear demarc- the Corrections Educational Consultant Service ation of proposed academic programs in the of the Council on Social Work Education. journal literature.Y0 However, an examination of The stand taken by the proponents of social the literature discloses roughly four major types work schools is that social work training, given the of pre-service, academic training for probation, present state of correctional knowledge, is the most 6 Letter received from Dr. Walter Reckless, Pro- appropriate for probation and parole officers and fessor of Sociology, Ohio State University, June 18, prison councellors. They contend that no accepted 1963. 7 KoRN & McCoxRKL, CRIMINOLOGY AND PENOLOGY course of academic preparation has been forth- 3C9-10 (1959). coming from persons viewing corrections as a 8 Some in the correctional field hold that "correc- profession. Adherents of social work envision cor- tional knowledge" must be translated into many languages, and that there exist different kinds and rections as a setting in which the skills of several levels of correctional knowledge that people must professional and occupational types find expres- have as a minimum requirement for specific correc- sion.13 The work of probation, tional assignment. See Federal Bureau of Prisons, Re- parole, and cor- search and Development Division, Defining Correc- rectional classification officers is viewed as es- tions for Training and Research Purposes, July, 1963 sentially clinical in nature. Therefore, clinical (mimeographed). 9Am. ComCnONAL ASS'N, REPORT AD Hoc Com- (social work) training is required for the "treat- MITTEE ON PROFESSIONAL CORRECTIONAL EDUCATION ment man." The National Council on Crime and 3-10 (92d Annual Congress of Correction, Philadel- Delinquency defines probation and parole as phia, Pa., Sept. 16-21, 1962). The Committee's con- clusions were based on a questionnaire poll of 317 11Behavioral sciences may be considered synony- selected colleges and universities and an examination mous to the social sciences in this paper, since these of the curricular offering of 150 college and university terms are used interchangeably in the literature and by catalogs. See also BooLSEN, DIRECTrORY Or COLLEGES respondents of the writers' poll. AND U-Nrv srsES OFFERING PREPARATORY PROGRAMS raThe Training Issue, 2 N.P.P.A.J. 193 (1956); FOR C.REERS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT, CRIMINALISTICS, Lejins, supra note 5, at 194; Fox, supra note 10, at CORRECTIONS 1-10 (mimeo. 3d ed. 1961). 51-53; Am. ComcEnONAL ASS'N, op cit. supra note 'GFox, The University Curriculum in Corrections, 9, at 2-10. 23 Fed. Prob. 51 (Sept. 1959); Sellin & Wolfgang, 13 Burbank, Some Problems and Issues Confronting Criminology, in UNESCO, UNrvEsrrY TEACENG OF Social Work Education in Corrections, 10 SocIAL Woax = SocLaL SCIENCES 138-54 (1957). EDUCATION 7 (1962). 19651 RESEARCH REPORTS disciplines within the general field of public that is needed for correctional case work-theories social work. This council strongly recommends of crime, classification of offenders, law, a knowl- training in a graduate school of social work to the edge of the way courts and prisons operate, etc. correctional worker seeking professional status. (5) Social workers identify with the profession of Schools of social work curricula include per- social work rather than with corrections 'i sonality theory and diagnosis; evaluation, in- To meet some of these criticisms advocates of vestigation, amelioration and therapeutic inter- social work training note that social case work is viewing; medical and psychiatric information; case not exclusively a voluntary relationship, and that recording; referral problems and methods; group social workers are able to play an authoritarian work methods; community resources and their use role and still help clients achieve new equilib- in evaluation and treatment; and supervised field riums.16 Admittedly, social case work concerns experience in a specialized agency. The M.S.W. itself mostly with the emotional needs of the is the preferred degree. Undergraduate training in individual; however, this emphasis does not pre- social welfare courses is seen as the next best clude a manipulation of the delinquents' environ- preparation for the correctional worker until ment. The curricular content of schools of social adequate numbers of MSW's become available.14 work include courses in community resources and The tollowing criticisms of social work training community organization. Moreover, aggressive for corrections have been made: (1) Social case case work has been utilized by social workers. The work as generally practiced is entered into volun- New York City Youth Board and the St. Paul, tarily as a permissive, non-directive, non-authori- Minnesota, Family-Center Unit have employed tarian relationship between case worker and client. aggressive techniques in the persuasion of resistive 7 The claim is made that this type of relationship is families to accept service.' The Division of Cor- not possible in the non-voluntary, often directive, rections of the Wisconsin State Department of authoritarian setting that constitutes correctional Public Welfare, which strongly supports social work. (2) Traditionally social case work has dealt work education for correctional workers, reports with the emotional or subjective needs of the their experienced probation and parole agents client. Correctional administrators generally stress with M.S.W. degrees have no difficulty in f-unction- the manipulation of the offenders' external en- ing effectively within authoritarian frameworks. 8 "The Council of Social vironment. (3) The social case worker attempts to Work Education, which apply a humanitarian philosophy of client self- principally sets the policy of social work training, determination with a tacit assumption of "sick- acknowledges that schools of social work might do ness" or "maladjustment" of law offenders. How- a better job within a generic social work framework ever, the primary concern of the correctional by adding additional teaching materials from the worker must lie with the safety of the community. correctional area and by introducing advanced 9 The correctional worker functions within a system seminars with correctional content The most of law which holds the individual to be responsible recent curriculum policy statement of the Council for his behavior. Additionally, sociological crimi- 5 On this issue see Tappan, op. cit. supra note 3, nologists deny the "sickness assumption" which is at 561-66; Johnson, supra note 2, at 292-94; Ohlin, based primarily on psychoanalytical theory. (4) Piven & Pappenfort, Major Dilemmas of the Social Worker in Probation.and Parole, 2 N.P.P.AJ. 211 Social workers are trained in generic social case (1956). work, which does not provide the substantive 16Meeker, Probation Is Casework, 12 Fed. Prob. 52 (June 1948); Meeker, Social Work and the Correc- content of criminology and correctional knowledge tional Field, 21 Fed. Prob. 32 (Sept. 1957); Biestek,. The Principles of Client Self-Determination, 32 SocIAL 24rd. at 8. The Wisconsin Division of Corrections, CAsEwoRK 329 (1951); Pray, The Place of Social Case State Department of Public Welfare, offers a work- Work in the Treatment of Ddinquency, 19 SOCIAL study program in cooperation with the School of So- SERvicE REv. 235 (1945); Tracey, A Social Worker's cial Work of the University of Wisconsin for Wiscon- Perspective on Social Work in Probation, 7 CaRs AND sin probation and parole agents and institutional DELINQUENCY 134 (1961); Studt, Casework in the counselors. This division strongly supports social Correctional Field, 18 Fed. Prob. 19 (Sept. 1954); work training for the correctional worker. See Miles, STunT, TRAINING PERSONNEL FOR WORK WrrH Juv - Self-Image of the Wisconsin Probation and Parole NILE DELINQUENTS (1954). Agent 4-6 (mimeo., Division of Corrections, State 17 RoBrNsok, JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 498-505 Dep't of Public Welfare, Madison, Wis., April, 1963); (1960). and Social Work in Wisconsin (mimeo., Wis. State '"Miles, supra note 14, at 24-27. Dep't of Public Welfare, Madison, Feb., 1963). " Burbank, supra note 13, at 10. RESEARCH REPORTS [Vol. 56

on Social Work Education advocates that schools tion of "correctional" case workers patterned on of social work include instruction in preventive the "helping professions" capable of functioning measures, the use of control and authority, de- effectively in authoritarian settings, i.e., probation cision making, analysis of social classes, sub-cul- and parole, institutional control, and aftercare. tures, and community power structures and institu- These case workers would also be equipped with 0 tions.2 skills relating to management, custody, main- Schools of social work, then, have demonstrated tenance, production, and surveillance. Supporters a willingness to add correctional content to their of this correctional case worker-manager cur- curricula, just as psychiatric, medical, and child riculum claim there is available a specific body of welfare content have been added. The demands of knowledge about crime, criminals, and penology; critics from within and from without the social and there are specialized techniques and skills work field for over-specialization in "correctional" available to the correctional worker dealing with as well as other case-work areas have been re- offenders.H sisted. Generic social work education trains social Many patrons of the specialized curriculum workers who may choose to work in various case- insist that the program be housed in an inde- work areas. The social worker who goes into family pendent department of corrections, because cor- case work does not become a "familogist," and the rections does not mesh with any one behavioral social worker who performs probation case work science. The proposed curricula include courses in does not become a criminologist. sociology, psychology, and political science at the undergraduate level. Strong emphasis is placed on Independent, Specialized Corrections Programs highly definitive and intensive courses in the fields A number of correctional administrators and of criminology and corrections at both the graduate academic criminologists recommend specialized and undergraduate levels; e.g., criminological training in corrections. These partisans hold that theory, probation and parole, juvenile delinquency, the social work school curriculum does not ade- offender classification, criminal and correctional quately prepare students for careers in corrections law, police methods, correctional institutions, because generic social case work is not correc- correctional and treatment management, rehabili- tional case work. Specialized correctional case tation and community services, after care services, work techniques may best be taught in specialized and correctional research and statistics. Courses in 2 programs. ' Proponents of this position maintain group and individual counseling, case work, inter- that social work philosophy and subject matter viewing techniques, business administration, ac- are primarily directed toward community and counting, and general administration are also often mental-hospital-social-work practice. Preparation suggested. Supervised field training in a correc- in sociology per se is also frowned upon because it tional setting is generally seen as a must. The does not include training in counseling techniques suggested faculty is made up of specialists in the and group work or case work skills. preceding study areas. Some specialized programs The goal of specialized corrections is the produc- also include training in the field of law enforcement." " Prigmore, Correction and Social Work-The Im- pact of the 1962 Curriculum Policy Statement, 9 CR Critics-of the specialized correctional approach AND DELINQuENcY 185 (1963). stress the lack of any accepted theory of crime 21Reckless, Training of the Correctioual Worker, in supported by a consistent set of treatment skills.2 CONTEwORARY CoRREcTION 40-45 (Tappan ed. ' 1951);" Lejins, Criminology for Probation and Parole 'FEDERAL BuREAu op PRIsONs, DrFNING CoR- Officers, 2 N.P.P.A.J. 207 (1956); Lejins, Professional RECTIONS FOR TRAINING AND RESEARCH PunosEs and Graduate Training in Corrections, in PRocEENGs 1-4; Dwoskin, A Profile of the Practitioner in a Cor- oF THE EIGHTY-NINTa AmumAL CONGREsS OF COR- rectional Setting 9-17 (mimeo, Cal. Probation, Parole RECTIONS OF THE AMERICAN CORRECnONAL Asso- & Correctional Ass'n, May, 1963). clArION 35 (1959); ScmquR, Pre-Service Training, "For an example of specialized programs at the 50 J. C=ne. L., C. & P.S. 27 (1959); Schnur, Pre- undergraduate and graduate levels see: UmvERsrry Service Training, in PROCEEDINGS OF TE EIGHTY- oF CALORNIA BuILrTrN, ANNOu cEM r OF THE EIGHTH AiNUAl CoNGREss 0r THE AMERICAN CoR- SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY, FALL AND SPRING SEMEs- RECTIONAL AssocIATI N 112 (1958); Am. CoRREc- TERS, 1963-64, p. 57 (Berkeley, California: May 20, TIONAL Ass'N, op. cit. supra note 9, at 8; A Proposal 1963). 24 For Training in Corrections, 3-23 (mimeo, University MEEKER, Social Work and the Correctional Field, of Southern California, March 1962); Lobenthal, 21 Fed. Prob. 32 (Sept. 1957); Proposals for Wolfgang, Research in Correctional Education and Training, Corrections, 40 PRIsoN 3. 37 (1960); OaHLr, SoCIOLOGy 40 P.ISON J. 3 (1960). AND THE FELn oF CoRREcrIoNs 52 (1936); Cressey, 19651 RESEARCH REPORTS

The dearth of any clear and comprehensive con- Sequences of Courses in Criminology and Correc- ceptualization of treatment based upon a set of lions Within Departments of Sociology empirically grounded diagnostic models (criminal The correctional or crime control curricula de- and delinquent types) is noted.2 In short, "cor- veloped by American colleges and universities rectional knowledge" is at best limited and merely which are sponsored by departments of sociology historical and descriptive in nature. fall in this category. Professor Frank M. Boolsen's Some sociologists see in the establishment of 26 directory for 1955 lists 23 such programs, oper- specialized corrections programs attempts to ated on undergraduate and/or graduate levels. create an independent academic discipline. To Corrections programs in departments of soci- them knowledge of crime and criminals constitutes ology include courses in general sociology, crimi- an area (not a discipline) of behavioral study to nology, juvenile delinquency, probation and parole, which several academic disciplines provide knowl- crime prevention, police administration, and psy- edge, and from which members of several academic chology. Several departments of sociology in the disciplines draw data for study. Champions of the past five years have added to this potpourri social correctional approach usually deny any endeavor welfare courses, public administration, correctional to create an academic discipline of corrections. research methods, logic, theory and methods of They generally hold, in similar vein with schools of counseling, field work, etc. In short, an attempt is social work, that their programs are designed to made to school simultaneously a correctional case prepare practitioners (not researchers), to apply, worker and a sociologist within a department of not produce, scientific knowledge about crime' and sociology. Some departments of sociology "shoot criminals. the moon" in a proliferation of course offerings The necessity of a specialized body of treatment (disciplinary and inter-disciplinary) geared to turn skills devised for the offender in an authoritarian out' a three gaited product--sociologist-case setting is also questioned by other critics as is the worker-correctional managern feasibility of setting up an academic program de- The authors take strong issue with this orienta- signed to produce in one package a case worker and tion. Such a hodgepodge curriculum fails to yield correctional manager. Granting the production of either sociologists or case workers, nor does it a correctional case worker-manager, censors note produce correctional managers. The abstract dis- the high probability that such a person would cipline of sociology is not designed to school either suffer role conflict in a correctional setting "treatment men" or "correctional managers." or apply only one set of skills depending upon his Sociology has no methodology or treatment tech- assigned work role. Furthermore, inauguration of niques to effect changes in value systems or atti- such an inclusive curriculum would necessitate 2 tudes of offenders Empirical sociological findings superficial treatment of the material therein, and sociological theory pertaining to criminology precluding thorough grounding in any or all dis- may certainly prove valuable to practitioners, ciplines concerned. 26 Lejins, Aspects of CorrectionalPersonnel Training, in PROCEEDINGS OF THE EIGH'ry-FI'TH AsNuAL CON- supra note 2, at 4-5; Lejins, Toward Better Knowledge GRESS OF CoRREcToN or THE AmExicAN PRIsoN in Corrections, in PROcEEDINGs OF TnE AmERcAN ASSOCIATION, 1955, p. 144. CORRECTIONAL ASSOCIATION, 1958, at 424-29. Though 21Esselstyn, Corrections and Sociology at San Jose Professor Lejins is a strong supporter of a specialized State, 14 CAL. Youru'AumloR Q. 16 (1961). corrections program this article clearly indicates the 2 OmNc, op. cit. supra note 24, at 48-52; Professor dearth of correctional knowledge. Donald Cressey, a sociologist, suggests five principles 25Gibbons, Some Notes on Treatment Theory in Cor- for applying Edwin Sutherland's theory of differential rections,36 SOCIAL SERvicE Rav. 295 (1962); Cressey, association to the rehabilitation of criminals in a Contradictory Theories in Correctional Group Tderapy "group relations" situation. See Cressey, Changing Programs, 18 Fed. Prob. 20 (June, 1954); Some tenta- Criminals: The A pplication of the Theory of Differential tive efforts at constructing criminal typologies have Association, 61 Am. J. Soc. 116 (1955). Volkman and been made. See Schrag, A Prdiminary Criminal Cressey found that these principles are being unwit- Typology, 4 PAc. Soc. Rrv. 11 (1961); Gibbons & tingly used by Synanon, a program for rehabilitating Garrity, Definition and Analysis of Certain Criminal drug addicts. See Volkman & Cressey, Differential Types, 53 J. Czme. L., C. & P.S. 27 (1962); JENKINS, Association and the Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts, BREAX G PATTERNS or DEFEAT (1954); Sykes, Men, 69 Am. J. Soc. 129 (1963). At best it must be remem- Merchants and Toughs; A Study of Reactions to Im- bered that Cressey's principles operate in a treatment prisonment, 4 SOCIAL PROBIEMS 130 (1956); Roebuck, setting where these techniques coexist with techniques The Negro Numbers Man as a Criminal Type: The based on clinical principles. In such a setting, it is Construction and Application of a Typology, 54 J. impossible to verify the validity of treatment prin- CRin. L., C. & P.S. 48 (1963). ciples based on the theory of differential association. RFSEARCH REPORTS [Vol. 56

e.g., social workers, psychiatrists, and clinical psy- probation and parole officers and institutional engineers" and counselors have been recruited from the ranks of chologists, as well as to "social29 correctional administrators. newspapermen, clergymen, educators,. military Practitioners could utilize sociological frames of men, correctional officers, policemen, etc. However, reference supported by empirical research con- such occupational types, including sociologists, cerning effects upon criminal and deviant be- have not acquired academic training in case work havior of social norms; culture, sub-culture, and techniques. group relationships; and class differences; as well as A Series of Miscelaneous Programs the relationship of role playing and self-conception, and urbanization to such behavior. The utiliza- The programs in the fourth category obviously tion and application of sociological theory and may not be discussed as a single entity. A signifi- research findings in the specific situation remains, cant number of them are predicated on the assump- however, the responsibility of the practitioner and tion that the best preparation for work in correc- not the sociologist." Physicists are not engineers, tions is a wide acquaintanceship with a number of and sociologists are not social workers. Depart- behavioral sciences ("know why" courses as op- ments of sociology which offer "nuts and bolts" posed to "know how" courses) which may include programs in corrections inevitably find themselves some theoretical courses in criminology. Particu- in an ideological conflict between ideals of an larized knowledge is gained through on the job abstract discipline and the tenets of an applied training following graduation from college. En- "helping" orientation. dorsers of this position note the extensive in-service The real sociological criminologist concerns orientation and training required for correctional himself with the phenomena of crime and criminal workers. Colleges and universities following this behavior utilizing-a scientific approach for their approach would eliminate attempts at specializa- study and analysis.3' The sobiological criminologist, tion and return to generic courses of study in the by virtue of academic preparation and theoretical behavioral sciences.n Critics of this approach point orientation, is equipped to teach and conduct re- to an increased need for specialization: in crimi- search on the phenomena of criminal behavior. He nology, in social case work, in correctional case is ill equipped to initiate, coordinate, or maintain work, depending upon their frame of reference. a program in corrections within a department of What at first blush appears to be a variant of sociology. the specialized, independent corrections program The authors heartily endorse the education of is suggested by the Professional Development sociological criminologists at all academic levels. Committee of the California Probation, Parole and However, we hasten to remind the holders of such Correctional Association, whose membership in- degrees that they are not trained in an applied cludes college professors and "practitioners" in art. This does not gainsay the apparent success the field of corrections in California. This commit- of many such graduates at various levels in the tee prescribes a "core curriculum" in corrections field of corrections.u For that matter, many at the undergraduate level to train probation, parole, and institutional "practioners." Case work 29The contributions of Donald Clemmer, Walter subject matter is handled in an interdisciplinary C. Reckless, Donald Taft, Norman S. Hayner, Clar- ence Schrag, Donald R. Cressey, Erwin Goffman, manner and is an addition to other bachelor of Richard H. McCleery, Stanton Wheeler, Daniel arts degree requirements. The Committee suggests Glaser, Gresham Sykes, Paul Tappan, Ruth Cavan, use of various schools or disciplines for the "hous- Mabel A. Elliott, Harry E. Barnes, Negley K. Teeters, Marshall B. Clinard, Clifford R. Shaw, Lloyd Ohlin, ing" or coordination of the program depending John L. Gillin, Hans von Hentig, Edwin Lemert, upon local institutional policy. The "core curricu- Thorsten Sellin, James F. Short, Marvin E. Wolfgang, among others, are cases in point. lum" consists of nine sociology courses, including 30Clinard, Contributions of Sociology to Understand- criminology, juvenile delinquency, correctional ing Deviant Behavior, 3 BRIT. J. CvnusXNoLoGy 110 institutions, probation and parole; four psychology (1962). 31 Wolfgang, Criminology and the Criminologist, 54 J. CRin. L., C. & P.S. 160 (1963). Also on this work and counseling techniques he learned were point see Trx EDWARD C. LINDEMAN MEMOIAL acquired after graduation in a correctional setting from LcTuR.Es, OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS, NATIONAL CON- clinicians, i.e., psychiatrists, psychologists, and social TERENCE OF SOCIAL WORK, ST. Louis, p. 175. workers. They were very patient! "The senior author is a product of a corrections SAe. CORRECTIONAL Ass'N op. cit. supra note 9, program within a department of sociology. What case at 10. RESEARCH REPORTS courses; three social work courses; one course in planned a career as probation officers, parole cultural anthropology; one course in principles of officers, and institutional classification officers public administration; one course in group dy- and counselors. namics; and one research course. The committee 2. What are your underlying reasons for the suggests the development in four year colleges in above recommendations? California of a "special emphasis or major in corrections" at the B.S. and M.S. levels.4 Results of the Poll The writers question this "core curriculum" Eighty-two percent of the polled individuals on several grounds. One cannot turn out simul- responded-115 out of 141.36 It can be seen from taneously in one package liberal arts products and Table I that eight responses mentioned only correctional practitioners. The Committee's fail- graduate training preference. All eight recom- ure to designate a department in which this core mended the M.S.W. degree as a condition of em- curriculum is to be housed indicates the dilemma- ployment. These letters expressed the view that practitioner vs. holder of liberal arts degree. The since the correctional setting was a case work and recommended curriculum is heavily loaded with clinical setting, case workers trained in clinical sociology courses. Acceptance of this program by techniques were called for. The work of probation any legitimate behavioral science department is officers, parole officers, and institutional counselors unlikely. Use of such language as "special emphasis was defined as social case work. This position is not or major in corrections" indicates the Committee's uncommon among professional social workers at willingness to house its curriculum within an ac- the M.S.W. level. cepted discipline or a separate corrections depart- Fifty-three responses, while noting under- ment-any port in a storm. Such a program will graduate training preferences, failed to state not mesh with any behavioral science discipline. preferred training at the graduate level. Forty- On the other hand it is too top heavy with sociology three of these 53 preferred academic preparation courses to stand alone as a separate department of in the behavioral sciences at the undergraduate corrections. level. As described in the letters, behavioral sciences were synonymous with the social sciences, How ConnxcTONA. Sp cumSS VIEW among which sociology and psychology courses EDUcATION rOR CoRREcrioNs were assigned top priority on an equal footing. In an attempt to ascertain the judgment of These responses did not' distinguish between significant contributors to the field of corrections training programs within departments of sociology regarding the academic preparation of probation, or psychology as opposed to programs in other parole, and institutional counselors, the writers behavioral science departments, e.g., schools of polled 141 persons by mail. This population con- public administration, public safety, police science, sisted of all the contributors and consultants to and political science. These letters also stressed the the 1959 revision of the Manual of Correctional importance of on the job training for the acquisi- Standards issued by the American Correctional tion of correctional skills superimposed on a broad Association, and several persons who had pub- background of behavioral science education. They lished articles within the past ten years in profes- noted that persons at the B.S. level were more sional journals on the academic preparation of easily obtained than persons with higher degrees. correctional workers.35 The following two ques- The remaining 37 responses in the undergraduate tions were asked: behavioral science category advocated graduate. 1. What academic training do you recommend training: 18 prescribed the M.S.W. degree, 17 for students preparing themselves for en- endorsed graduate training in corrections leading trance into the correctional field at the under- toward the M.S. degree, and two suggested an graduate and/or graduate level? Specifically M.S. in the behavioral sciences. The 18 responses we have in mind here students who have prescribing an M.S.W. equated the tasks of the probation officer, parole officer, and institutional M Dwoskin, supra note 22, at 16-24. 35There were 122 contributors and consultants to counselor with professional social case work. the MAu'rAL OF CopmEcIoNAL STrNDARs. The additional 19 persons polled included ten sociologists 36 One-hundred-one Manual of CorrectionalStandards at the Ph.D. level and nine M.S.W.'s with special contributors, seven sociologists, and seven M.S.W.'s interest in this area. responded. RESEARCH REPORTS (Vol. 56

TABLE I RESPONDENTS SUGGESTED ACADEMIC TRAINING FOR PROBATION OFFICERS, PAROLE OFFICERS, AND INSTITUTIONAL COUNSELORS

Suggested Graduate Programs

Suggested Undergraduate Programs S Required MSW CorreOS j Behavioral Total __ _ _e__ir Corrections Sciences

B.S. Behavioral Science ...... 43 18 17 2 80 B.S. Specialized Corrections ...... 4 0 14 0 18 Social W elfare ...... 1 3 0 0 4 A.B. or B.S. Degree with no stated disciplinary preference ...... 5 0 0 0 5 None mentioned ...... 0 8 0 0 8

Total ...... 53 29 31 2 115

Source: Poll conducted by the authors during June-August, 1963.

Undergraduate training in the behavioral sciences sity of educating a specialized case worker- (especially psychology and sociology) was de- manager. Following their colleagues in the litera- scribed as the appropriate prerequisite to graduate ture, they placed great emphasis on "specialized study in a school of social work. The 17 replies "correctional knowledge." supporting the M.S. in corrcctions outlined a Four respondents endorsed an undergraduate specialized curriculum for the training of a cor- program in social welfare. Three advocated an rectional case worker-manager as distinct from a M.S.W. at the graduate level; one mentioned no generic social case worker. Their rationale was graduate training preference. Reasons for this the same as that found in the literature by those academic preference parallel the rationale cited advocating specialized corrections programs. by others in the sample championing social work Comments of these 17 on the undergraduate pro- training. gram in the behavioral sciences leading to graduate Five respondents proposed an .A.B. or B.S. study in corrections indicated a heavy emphasis degree with no stated disciplinary preference. on corrections courses. They reasoned that the None of these thought that graduate training aspirant correctional worker should acquaint was necessary. These five stated that certain himself with criminology, law enforcement, law, personality attributes were more conducive to case work, and public administration early in success on the job than any specific training.T his academic career. Two letters espousing an M.S. in the behavioral sciences supported by a DiscussIow B.S. in the same field viewed the correctional setting as an area of work for a generalist in be- Responses to the poll as opposed to the litera- havioral science. Both respondents noted that ture failed to make a distinction between under- many Borstal counselors in England are not graduate sequences of courses in criminology and trained in any one professional area. corrections within departments of sociology, and Eighteen persons recommended undergraduate other behavioral science programs. These re- training in specialized corrections programs. Four sponses emphasized course work in sociology, of these offered no choice at the graduate level, "IThe suggested academic programs generally their position being that four years of intensive tended to reflect the specialized training of the respon- training in corrections was sufficient. The re- dents: (1) those with social work training championed the M.S.W.; (2) the recommendations of those with maining 14 advised specialized corrections training legal backgrounds were split between corrections and leading to the M.S. degree. Curriculum proposals M.S.W.'s; (3) sociologists' preferences were divided in these 14 letters at both the undergraduate and among behavioral science, social work, and specialized corrections; and (4) those with only A.B. or B.S. graduate levels were loaded with corrections degrees recommended general training in the behavioral courses. All 18 respondents proclaimed the neces- sciences. 19651 RESEARCH REPORTS

criminology, and psychology, but failed to desig- similar in specialized corrections programs at the nate a "housing" discipline. graduate level and in schools of social work. The At this time when the professionalization of cor- importance and uniqueness of case work in an rectional workers is in vogue, it is significant to authoritarian setting has now been recognized by note that approximately one half of those polled both schools. Schools of social work have noted in this sample do not think that graduate training the necessity of utilizing correctional and socio- is required for probation officers, parole officers, logical materials in their course content. The and institutional counselors. This position might authors agree with Professor Paul Tappan that reflect any of three points of view: (1) the re- further fusion of social work methods and a spondents feel that specialized "correctional criminological orientation is necessary.18 This ap- knowledge" may not be gained through a process pears to be forthcoming. Though hiring practices of academic preparation; (2) that an irndergrad- vary throughout the United States an increasing uate program when supplemented by practical, number of correctional administrators look with on the job training is adequate preparation for the equal favor upon the graduates of specialized correctional worker; (3) that despite what the corrections programs at the graduate level and respondents feel to be ideal training, the unavail- M.S.W.'s. ability of a sufficient number of persons with The authors maintain that colleges and uni- higher academic degrees for corrections accustoms versities are not equipped to offer specialized train- them to think in terms of other than graduate ing in corrections at the undergraduate level. training for prospective personnel. Moreover the program and goals of the liberal Of those suggesting training at the graduate arts approach do not mesh with a "nuts and bolts" level two camps of preference exist-MI.S. in cor- approach. Elimination of attempts at specializa- rections, M.S.W. degree. The adherents of the tion and a return to generic courses of study in former note the unique nature of correctional which colleges and universities are qualified is case work and management skills. Their interest called for. College graduates in the behavioral lies in specialized training which they hope will sciences may be trained in probation, parole, and lead to the production of a body of professional institutional counselor techniques and skills by the correctional workers. Advocates of the M.S.W. employing agency (on the job and in-service view case work as essential to the field of correc- training). At the graduate level a masters degree tions and contend that schools of social work pro- in corrections or in social work with correctional vide the best case work training. They view the emphasis is recommended. Departments of correctional field as an area in which M.S.W.'s sociology are not designed to train case workers as well as other professionals may make contribu- or managers. Some of them are equipped to school tions. However, they maintain that the work sociological criminologists. And those that are performed by parole officers, probation officers, have an important task to perform preparing and institutional counselors is the province of the professional social case worker. students in theoretical criminology and research The authors have observed from the literature methodology. and from the poll that the course-work content 8 T.PiAx, CRiE, JusncE AND Comcox 566 pertaining to case work with offenders and the (1960); See also KIxATEICK, Personnd Need in Mhe clinical approach to this content are becoming Correclional Field, 25 THE SocIAL WoRKER 13 (1957).