Santa Ana Parole Officers

Term Paper # 116287

Criminology > Public and Crime
Political Science > Government Agencies

A discussion of the efforts and successes of the Santa Ana Parole Office, California.

1,271 words () | 4 sources | APA | 2009 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper examines Santa Ana's effectiveness in reducing the crime rate of parolees that have been released. The paper first describes the guidelines established that regulated the number and location of new liquor licenses issued after a study was released that indicated that crime rates were linked to establishments selling alcohol. The paper then relates that the Santa Ana department has also sought to work more closely with other governmental agencies outside the city and has enacted programs and used resources to treat 'at-risk' youth and rising vehicle theft. The paper shows how the parole system's interconnection with the community offers security to the parolee and provides more resources to help them stay away from crime and become a part of the community.

From the Paper:

"There are many factors that go into being a good parole officer. Not the least of which is patience. Officers must be highly educated, well connected to links in the community, very well organized, compassionate and yet authoritarian (1). The job we as a society has asked of the men and women of the Santa Ana Parole Office is nothing short of a miracle. Most of the time parole officers are over worked and under funded and yet we as a society demand that they watch over thousands of parolees to insure our safety. Japan takes a very different societal view of this process than we do. They have a huge volunteer force that helps those released from prison stay connected with their community.(3) They have a ratio of almost 2:1 parolee to officer but their officers are normal members of the community that volunteer their time to help."

Sample of Sources Used:

Policing Santa Ana, an Interagency Guide to Partnerships, (2006) retrieved on 5/3/2006 www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles1/nij/186822.txt
Henneke, D., Rainey, R. (Feb 2005) Purpose and Function of Probation and Parole. Section 16, P-160100, ACA Standards:4-APP pp1-5
Bansal, H. S., Taylor, S. F., St. James, Y., (2005) "Migrating" to New Service Providers: Toward a Unifying Framework of Consumers' Switching Behaviors., Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Vol 33, No. 1, pp 96-115.
Martin, M., (2005) California's system for parolees call ineffective revolving door, University of California Irvine, retrieved on 5/03/06 http://ucicorrections.seweb.uci.edu/news/2005_09_10_sfc.shtml