What Works? Women on Probation and Parole in Two County Systems

Abstract

Institute for Excellence in Justice Seminar: Women on Probation and Parole: A Feminist Critique of Community Programs and Services, May 20, 2011 at the Frank W. Hale Black Cultural Center, The Ohio State University. Presentation by Dr. Merry Morash, Professor, School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University. Accompanied by expert panelists Denise Robinson, President and CEO of Alvis House, and Dr. Paula Smith, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and Director of the Corrections Institute at University of Cincinnati. This presentation presents a data driven picture of the context and the supervising officers' interactions and actions that promote women offenders' success on probation and parole. It also uses the experiences of women in Gender Responsive County and in Traditional County to show how national and state policies effect women, and how women under supervision vary from each other in profound ways. Just as failure can be constructed through over supervision, success can be a false construction due to lack of attention and oversight. The talk is informed by detailed data from multiple interviews with women, from probation and parole records, and from official records of drug test results, rules violations, and crimes.