Dissertation

Organizational management of offender reentry: The multidimensional challenges of change

Bond, Brenda J

2006

Overview

Reentry is a catch-all phrase used to characterize the intersection between offender reintegration and community safety. The numbers of offenders being released today from prison are exceptional, and have directed resources towards the introduction of new reentry policies, impacting the way organizations think about and behave regarding reentry and public safety. This organizational management aspect dimension of reentry has received insufficient attention from policymakers and researchers, yet practitioners struggle with it every day in their efforts to successfully reintegrate offenders and maintain public safety. Through a three-paper dissertation, this study considers changes in Massachusetts recidivism rates subsequent to reentry policy, where some communities have experienced notable recidivism reductions. By examining individual and community factors relative to offender recidivism, the first paper explores how challenges to reentry might inform efforts in those cities that host the majority of returning offenders---or \"reentry hot spots.\" The second paper describes survey results of organizational change activities, then conceptualizes a new model of strategic change management and an original metric for measuring change. Findings suggest that deliberate, knowledge-based change has occurred in Massachusetts agencies and provides a foundation for testing a new change model against reentry outcomes. In the final paper, the study explored communication and coordination between organizations by utilizing a theory of relational coordination to understand inter-agency relationships. Results reveal relationships between criminal justice agencies are stronger than those in substance abuse and employment agencies. The data also support the use of relational coordination in future measurement of collaboration outcomes. There are strong implications resulting from this work. Foremost is that organizations and their management of reentry are changing, and there is a need to understand the nature and results of change. Secondly, this research compels policymakers, practitioners and researchers to take a different view on how we identify, understand and tackle emerging criminal justice issues. While we need to invest heavily in understanding policy implementation and efficacy, equal attention should be paid to organizations and management practices as part of the administration of justice.

• Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Subject: Criminology / Public administration / Social research
• ISBN: 9780542903397, 0542903393