Deck 11: Ethics and Community-Based Corrections

Question 1

Community-based corrections refers to options available to judges at sentencing designed to both punish and rehabilitate offenders while allowing them to remain in the community.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Currently, there is no code of ethics to guide probation and parole officers in this country.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

About 10% of preservice training for probation and parole officers in this country is devoted to professional conduct and ethics.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Duality in the role of probation and parole officers refers to the fact they are both enforcers of probation and parole agreements and treatment providers.

Question 5

As community-based corrections moves toward more of a neighborhood-based model, the ideals guiding, and the obligations of, probation and parole officers are changing.

Question 6

Arming probation and parole officers may create unnecessary liability for officers.

Question 7

Structural deficiencies in the organization and administration of community-based corrections may result in the criminal justice system knowingly setting up offenders to fail.

Question 8

There is no evidence probation and parole officer caseloads and workloads create ethical issues relating to the ability of these officers to meet their obligation to serve as agents of treatment and change.

Question 9

Courts requiring DUI offenders to plaster bumper stickers on their vehicles indicating their drinking habits does not create ethical issues concerning acceptable penal content.

Question 10

Ethical questions arise when the content of community-based correctional programs involve deprivations suffered by offenders.

Question 11

Which of the following is considered a "pillar" of community-based corrections?

A) Intermediate sanctions
B) Jails
C) Prisons
D) All of the above

Question 12

Parole:

A) Involves periodic incarceration in a local jail (e.g., every other weekend) for the duration of the sentence received
B) Refers to early release from prison after offender serves a portion of her sentence
C) Is used in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and at the federal level
D) Was developed by John Augustus in the 1850s in Boston

Question 13

Ethical issues in community-based corrections include which of the following?

A) Offender-funded corrections
B) Acceptable penal content
C) Probation/parole officer workloads and caseloads
D) All of the above

Question 14

The ethical issue involving duality in the role of probation/parole officer relates to:

A) Conflict between officers' obligation to protect the community while also serving as treatment providers
B) Conflict over officer caseloads and workloads
C) Conflict arising over officers enforcing potentially unacceptable penal content
D) None of the above

Question 15

As community-based corrections moves toward more of a neighborhood-based model:

A) Fewer people will be interested in careers in probation and parole
B) More pre- and in-service training in the enforcement function of officers will occur
C) More questions will arise concerning whether the sanctions being enforced in probation/parole agreements meet ethical standards for acceptable penal content
D) Change will occur in both the guiding ideals for probation and parole officers and the obligations they have to their clients

Question 16

Which is an ethical issue surrounding probation/parole officers' caseloads and workloads?

A) Officers' ability to identify whether the sanctions imposed by probation/parole agreements meets ethical standards for acceptable penal content
B) Officers' ability to fulfill her obligations of surveillance, treatment, and enforcement
C) Officers' ability to pursue in-service training
D) None of the above

Question 17

Which of the following is an issue relating to arming probation/parole officers?

A) Their role changes to one that overemphasizes surveillance and enforcement and diminishes treatment, rehabilitation, and change
B) Unnecessary liability is created for both officers, their agency, and the state
C) Agencies will have to develop policies relating to training, qualification, requalification, and use of weapons by officers
D) All of the above

Question 18

Critics of offender-funded community-based corrections worry that:

A) Surveillance and enforcement aspects of community-based corrections will suffer
B) Greater reliance on the police to enforce probation and parole agreements will occur
C) The poorer the offender, the more they pay and the longer they must live with the threat of probation or parole revocation hanging over their heads
D) Wealthier offenders, because they have access to greater resources, will be treated unfairly compared to poorer offenders

Question 19

Which of the following is an ethical issue associated with electronic monitoring of probationers and parolees?

A) Impact of the sanction on probation/parole officer workloads
B) Technological innovation
C) How electronic monitoring is implemented
D) Who is designing and implementing electronic monitoring

Question 20

Privatization of community-based corrections to involve for profit companies:

A) Could lead to significant change in the model standards for community-based corrections
B) Could lead to improper influences by these companies on judicial decision making at sentencing
C) May negatively impact these companies' ability to run for-profit prisons
D) May mean private-sector service providers, including for-profit companies, do not have to demonstrate qualifications such as licensing and experience

Question 21

Discuss the ethical issues that surround community-based corrections. How might these issues be addressed?

Question 22

Discuss how the duality of the role of probation and parole officers creates ethical issues for them. What might be a solution to this problem?

Question 23

Given the mixed history, administration, and purposes of probation and parole, can they be justified as ethical forms of punishment? Explain.

Question 24

Can intermediate sanctions be ethically justified? Choose any system of ethics and subject intermediate sanctions to ethical scrutiny.

Question 25

Increasingly, it appears that "cash-register justice," "offender-funded justice" and similar descriptions typify community-based corrections. To what do these terms refer? If these descriptions are true, is the ethical legitimacy of community-based corrections in jeopardy? Explain why or why not.