Community Corrections Officers as Change Agents

Individuals on probation and parole make up the largest correctional population in the United States; in 2018, there were 6.7 million adults under U.S. correctional control, including 4.5 million adults under community supervision (Jones, 2018). With over two-thirds of the correctional population under community supervision, it is crucial to shift the professional responsibilities of probation and parole staff to reflect (1) community supervision as human service work and (2) officers' roles as change agents. Although we would never expect correctional officers (either institutional or community officers) to serve in a clinical role like social workers, many of the human service principles from social work and behavior change are integral characteristics for staff to motivate clients to change antisocial behavior. Therefore, although this text is primarily about the correctional counseling role, we now know that teaching community corrections staff the skills of both law enforcement and change agents improves clients' outcomes on officers' caseloads in the community.