The staff in probation agencies rely heavily on a long list of case plan agreements to get their clients to obey the laws. Yet, the list of rules create overwhelming challenges for those on probation and parole, especially those who suffer from drug addiction, mental illness, and physical and cognitive disabilities. Though millions of dollars in grants and funding continue to be provided as a solution, the rate of recidivism is still rising. Community Risk and Protective Factors for Probation and Parole Risk Assessment Tools: Emerging Research and Opportunities is an essential research publication that explores tools for predicting recidivism rates among incarcerated individuals. The study provides evidence for an alternative explanation for a still prevailing notion that recidivism is primarily a result of personal/internal failings (such as mental illness or cognitive impairment) versus external/societal ones. Featuring a wide range of topics such as affordable housing, policy reform, and adult education, this book is ideal for criminologists, sociologists, law enforcement, corrections officers, wardens, therapists, rehabilitation counselors, researchers, policymakers, criminal justice professionals, academicians, and students.

Accounting information, on the one hand, allows government officials to obtain better information to support greater decision making, transparency, and accountability. On the other hand, this financial information also allows local citizens more access to knowledge of how public resources are being managed and used by the local government entities. Measuring the pros and cons of this information may determine how certain officials remain in office while others do not. Financial Determinants in Local Re-Election Rates: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a collection of innovative research that assesses whether accounting information and other factors have an impact on electoral results, which in turn impact re-election in local government. While highlighting topics including political financing, voting behavior, and capital spending, this book is ideally designed for political analysts, politicians, government officials, researchers, policymakers, public policy managers, financial analysts, academicians, and students seeking current research on financial information and other factors having an impact on electoral results.

Recent technological advancements have made it possible to use moderated discussion threads on social media to provide citizens with a means of discussion concerning issues that involve them. With the renewed interest in devising new methods for public involvement, the use of such communication tools has caused some concern on how to properly apply them for strategic purposes. Using New Media for Citizen Engagement and Participation provides emerging research exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of how social media should be added to public-involvement activities such as citizen juries, public deliberation, and citizen panels. Readers will be offered insights into the critical design considerations for planning, carrying out, and assessing public-involvement initiatives. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as citizen journalism, online activism, and public discourse, this book is ideally designed for corporate professionals, broadcasters, news writers, column editors, politicians, policy managers, government administrators, academicians, researchers, practitioners, and students in the fields of political science, communications, sociology, mass media and broadcasting, public administration, and community-service learning.

The need for intercultural communication and understanding has never been greater. The unstoppable confluence of technology continues to unsympathetically disrupt, distort, and exert consequential changes to nation states and to the breadth, depth, and scope of sociocultural institutions. Such changes have foregrounded the need to understand and relate to the diverse ethical underpinnings that account for distinctive cultural norms where global or universal collaborations are desired. Success in the convergence of cultures in a globalized world would be impossible in the absence of a standardized terms of reference, which guarantees international understanding and facilitates peace and progress the world over. Examining Ethics and Intercultural Interactions in International Relations is an integral scholarly publication that facilitates international collaboration through intercultural communication and exchange of data, ideas, and information on a broad range of topics, including ethics in academics, business, medicine, government, and leadership. The overarching object of this book is the improvement of a peaceful, harmonious, and just world for all its inhabitants, such that further progress in all endeavors is assured. Highlighting a wide range of topics such as business ethics, early childhood education, and sociology, this book is essential for academicians, policymakers, professionals, educational administrators, researchers, and students, as well as those working in fields where ethics and human relationships are required such as education, public and private administration or management, medicine, sociology, and religion.

One of the world’s most prevalent political quarrels is the current geographical state of Ukraine, along with its relationships with Russia and the European Union. With the annexation of Crimea, Russian forces have gained control over most of Eastern Ukraine, igniting a clash between the two governments and triggering the European Union, United States, and several Post-Soviet states to involve themselves in the situation. As these engagements continue to unfold, significant research is needed to examine the current state of these administrations and the tensions that continue to intensify in this region of the world. Analyzing Political Tensions Between Ukraine, Russia, and the EU is a collection of innovative research on the recent developments inside this growing geopolitical conflict. While highlighting topics including neighborhood policy, NATO relations, and Eastern partnership, this book is ideally designed for politicians, policymakers, governmental strategists, researchers, educators, journalists, academicians, and students seeking further understanding of foreign relations and the current political struggles of these European territories.

Provides comprehensive coverage on recidivism risk/needs assessment tools Correctional and healthcare professionals around the world utilize structured instruments referred to as risk/needs assessment tools to predict the likelihood that an offender will recidivate. Such tools have been found to provide accurate and reliable evaluations and are widely used to assess, manage, and monitor offenders both institutionally as well as in the community. By identifying offenders in need of different levels of intervention, examining causal risk factors, and individualizing case management plans, risk/needs assessment tools have proven invaluable in addressing the public health issue of recidivism. Recidivism Risk/Needs Assessment Tools brings together the developers of the most commonly-used risk/needs assessment tools to provide a comprehensive overview of their development, peer-reviewed research literature, and practical application. Written by the leading professionals in the field of risk/needs assessment, the book provides chapters on: Recidivism Risk Assessment in the 21st Century; Performance of Recidivism Risk Assessment Instruments in Correctional Settings; Correctional Offender Management Profiles for Alternative Sanctions (COMPAS); the Federal Post-Conviction Risk Assessment Instrument; the Inventory of Offender Risks, Needs, and Strengths (IORNS); the Level of Service (LS) Instruments; the Ohio Risk Assessment System (ORAS); the Self-Appraisal Questionnaire (SAQ); the Service Planning Instrument (SPIn); the Static Risk Offender Needs Guide-Revised (STRONG-R); the Offender Group Reconviction Scale (OGRS); the Forensic Operationalized Therapy/Risk Evaluation System (FOTRES); the RisCanvi; and more. Systematically identifies currently-validated recidivism risk/needs assessment tools Reviews research on recidivism risk/needs assessment tools used internationally Each chapter presents sufficient detail to decide whether a given recidivism risk/needs assessment tool is right for your practice Recidivism Risk/Needs Assessment Tools is ideal for correctional, probation and parole, and behavioral health professionals.

A new paradigm for supervising offenders in the community Environmental Corrections is an innovative guide filled with rich insights and strategies for probation and parole officers to effectively integrate offenders back into the community and reduce recidivism. Authors Lacey Schaefer, Francis T. Cullen, and John E. Eck move beyond traditional models for interventions and build directly on the applied focus of environmental criminology theories. Using this approach, the authors answer the question of what officers can do to decrease opportunities for an offender to commit a crime. Readers will learn how to recognize and assess specific criminal opportunities in an offender’s past and gain the tools and strategies they need to design an individualized supervision plan that channels offenders away from these criminogenic situations.