A Positive Versus Negative Interaction Memory Affects Parole Officers’ Implicit Associations Between the Self-Concept and the Group Parolees

BackgroundParole officers are one of many actors in the legal system charged with interpreting and enforcing the law. Officers not only assure that parolees under their supervision comply with the terms of their release, but also monitor and control parolees’ criminal behavior. They conduct their jobs through their understanding of their official mandate and make considered and deliberate choices while executing that mandate. However, their experiences as legal actors may impact their implicit cognitions about parolees. This experiment is the first of its kind to examine implicit (i.e., automatic) associations between the self and parolees among actors of the legal system.ObjectiveThe present study examines the implicit cognitive consequences of the quality of the parole officer-parolee relationship from the perspective of the parole officer; specifically, whether parole officers who are reminded of positive experiences with parolees implicitly associate more with the group parolees than those reminded of a negative experience. In addition, we explore the moderating effects of parole officers’ subjective professional orientation and identification.MethodEighty-four New Jersey parole officers participated in the study. First, an experimental manipulation of either a past positive or negative experience was administered via a writing task. Participants then completed an Implicit Association Test (IAT) to measure associations between the self-concept of parole officers with parolees who are part of the group criminal, followed by measures of professional orientation and identification.ResultsParticipants who were reminded of a positive experience with a parolee exhibited stronger associations between self and the group parolee when compared to those who were reminded of a negative experience. Neither professional orientation nor parole officer group identification were related to implicit associations and did not moderate the effect of the past experience reminder on implicit associations.Conclusion and ImplicationsImplicit cognitions of parole officers may influence their behaviors and interactions with those whom they supervise. Positive reminders affect implicit self-associations with parolees presumably via empathy, which is known to affect the quality of therapeutic and supervision relationships; thus, theoretically, leading to improved outcomes for both officers and parolees

Responding to Physical and Sexual Abuse in Women with Alcohol and Other Drug and Mental Disorders: Program Building

The Women, Co-occurring Disorders and Violence Study is the first effort to address the significant lack of appropriate services for women with alcohol and other drug and mental health diagnoses who have experienced physical and/or sexual abuse. This program is sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration\u27s three Centers: the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and the Center for Mental Health Services. The nine participating sites each developed a services integration intervention addressing the multiple needs of women with co-occurring disorders and histories of violence. As participants in a cross-site initiative, each site created their interventions within the guidelines established by a Federal Steering Committee. Under these guidelines, interventions must be gender-specific, culturally competent, trauma-informed and trauma-specific, comprehensive and integrated, and involve consumers/survivors/recovering persons (CSRs) in substantive and meaningful ways. In this work, each site describes their strategies for developing strategies for integrating services at two levels: at the clinical/individual level and at the services or system level. Within this framework, sites have created programs that are responsive to the strengths and needs of their own communities

Introduction

The Women, Co-occurring Disorders and Violence Study is the first effort to address the significant lack of appropriate services for women with alcohol and other drug and mental health diagnoses who have experienced physical and/or sexual abuse. This program is sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration\u27s three Centers: the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and the Center for Mental Health Services. The nine participating sites each developed a services integration intervention addressing the multiple needs of women with co-occurring disorders and histories of violence. As participants in a cross-site initiative, each site created their interventions within the guidelines established by a Federal Steering Committee. Under these guidelines, interventions must be gender-specific, culturally competent, trauma-informed and trauma-specific, comprehensive and integrated, and involve consumers/survivors/recovering persons (CSRs) in substantive and meaningful ways. In this work, each site describes their strategies for developing strategies for integrating services at two levels: at the clinical/individual level and at the services or system level. Within this framework, sites have created programs that are responsive to the strengths and needs of their own communities

Sex Offending and Serious Mental Illness: Directions for Policy and Research

Over the past decade, two rapidly evolving areas of criminal justice practice have garnered increasing attention from policy makers, practitioners, and researchers: the management and treatment of justice involved individuals with serious and persistent mental illness, and the challenges of managing the perceived societal risk presented by sex offenders. Yet, whereas each of these issues has independently attracted significant attention, the nexus between them has remained largely unexamined. Matters of concern include the manner in which individuals with serious mental illness may be disproportionately affected by the expanding range of restrictions placed on those with sexual offense histories, the demands for adapting traditional models of sex offender treatment and supervision for those with serious mental illness, and the manner in which public mental health agencies must adapt their systems of inpatient and community-based care to meet the needs of clients with sex offense histories. This article explores the connections between sex offending and serious mental illness, examining the magnitude and nature of the issue, the organizational and programmatic challenges facing both the public mental health and criminal justice systems, and the emergent public policy implications. The article analyzes existing research, identifies relevant gaps in our existing body of knowledge, and concludes by presenting an agenda for policy makers and researchers