The Impact of the "New Penology" on ISP

This article provides a critique of Feeley and Simon's claim (1992) that a new transformation in penology is emerging in the United States, vis-a-vis McCorkle and Crank's position (1996) that the transformation is more rhetoric than reality. Data were collected for a 60-day study period, initially to assess intensive supervised probation (ISP) workloads as well as the attitudes of criminal justice work groups toward ISP in "Midwestern County." Data analysis focused on the amount of supervision time, the number of face-to-face contacts, the time spent performing a supervision activity, and the number of drug tests carried out across four levels of offender risk. It was found that in no case did the high-supervision group receive the highest amount of supervision resources per capita. We offer a caveat, however, in terms of risk assessment and of the nature and quality of an ISP officer's supervision.