Community Corrections Management
Paper Edition
By William D. Burrell

Our probation and parole agencies together are responsible for supervising 70% of the adult offenders under correctional supervision—we simply cannot afford mismanagement

“Wonderful themes and topics … I highly recommend Community Corrections Management: Issues and Strategies”
—Timothy P. Cadigan in Federal Probation

"This book is a must read for policy makers, practitioners, scholars and students of probation and parole.”
—Mario A. Paparozzi, Ph.D.

“A remarkable series of reflective commentaries on community corrections.” 
— Edward E. Rhine, Ph.D., Deputy Director, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction

“There is no better set of essays available today.”
—Todd R. Clear, Dean, School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ

The decades-long flow of offenders into prison that began in the late 1970s is beginning to reverse. Lengthy mandatory sentences that stocked prisons to overflowing through the 1980s and 1990s are ending—hastened by the courts and by legislatures intent on budget cutting. Community corrections agencies have to manage the flood of inmates now being released into our communities—upwards of 600,000 state and federal inmates each year for the foreseeable future—inmates who, for the most part, are coming out of prison no better, and likely much worse, than when they went in.  

• What evidence-based practices will make the biggest improvements in agency operations?
• How can we measure performance?
• What causes staff burnout? What can we do about it?
• How can I become a better leader?
• What available practices are most likely reduce recidivism by probationers and parolees?
• How can our agency build public support for community corrections?
• When should we reach out to other agencies to collaborate?
• What is the best way to handle low risk offenders?
• Why do agency staff resist change? What can we do to make them accept it?
• What can I do to communicate better with both staff and key stakeholders?
• Where is the field of probation and parole headed— and how can we prepare our agency for that future?
• Can cognitive-behavioral programming be done by probation and parole officers?
• Which management processes from the private sector can improve our agency’s operations?
• What can be done to manage the conflict that seems to be so much a part of agency life?
• Are probation and parole professionals in the crime prevention business?
• What do we know about the science of effective implementation and how do we use it?
• How has the role of the line probation and parole officer changed and what’s coming down the road?
  
  

“Burrell has chosen some wonderful themes and topics that are in need of exploration … assembled in a well-written product that is an easy and interesting read. As a practitioner I was impressed with the lack of jargon and use of everyday language, as I know my colleagues are often put off by material that is ‘too academic.’ I can endorse it for any practitioner, but I also endorse it for legislative, executive, and judicial branch personnel….It concisely presents a comprehensive discussion of a vast and probably limitless topic and provides readers with insight into the big picture. I highly recommend Community Corrections Management: Issues and Strategies”
—Timothy P. Cadigan in Federal Probation 

Follow link for full review (on page 51) in Federal Probation

“Only a practitioner/scholar could identify, frame, and explain the issues that are so critical to the practice and professional development of probation and parole. In Community Corrections Management: Issues and Strategies, Bill Burrell has done what only an astute insider can—he highlights the importance of probation and parole as valuable public safety and justice strategies while always emphasizing the responsibility of practitioners to advance the profession through the application of state-of-the-art knowledge with regard to offender rehabilitation and the effective and efficient administration of the organizations in which they work. Thanks to Bill Burrell, the longstanding and recalcitrant gap between scholarship and practice finally has a bridge! This book is a must read for policy makers, practitioners, scholars and students of probation and parole.”
—Mario A. Paparozzi, Ph.D., Professor & Chair, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, University of North Carolina at Pembroke

“Community Corrections Management: Issues and Strategies offers a remarkable series of reflective commentaries on the state of community corrections today.  Extraordinarily well-written, the chapters cover an impressive range of topics inclusive of shifts in the philosophy and mission driving the field, the management of organizational change, the movement toward evidence-based practice and results-driven outcomes, the ever-evolving work of probation and parole officers, and the myriad of challenges confronting community corrections in the relatively early stages of the twenty-first century.  This lucid book will leave readers—those working within the criminal justice system, community-based corrections practitioners, as well as academicians, policymakers, and students alike—fully conversant with the critical issues that continue to dominate the discourse of community corrections.”
— Edward E. Rhine, Ph.D., Deputy Director, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction

“Bill Burrell is one of those unusual people whose knowledge spans the worlds of practice and scholarship. He writes convincingly about probation and parole, drawing upon his deep well of experience and immersion in the growing knowledge base about the work. In Community Corrections Management: Issues and Strategies, Burrell shows this double mastery. Policy makers will learn from this book, but so will scholars. There is no better set of essays available today.”
—Todd R. Clear, Dean, School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ

Related Publications:
Criminal Justice Research Review
Journal of Community Corrections
Journal of Offender Monitoring
Offender Programs Report
Probation & Parole Law Reports