ABSTRACT
In 1976, California was the first state to reject rehabilitation as a correctional philosophy. In the late 1970s, California legislators formally called for a shift to determinate sentencing; those supporting the shift echoed the belief that crime was not caused by personal deficiencies and questioned the rehabilitative ideal. The official rejection of both the indeterminate sentencing structure and the rehabilitative ideal occurred with the passage of Senate Bill (SB) 42 in 1976. SB 1057 increased parole terms to the lengths originally proposed under SB 42: three years for those serving non-life sentences and five years for those serving life sentences. A review of parole manuals immediately before and after 1976 revealed that the most immediate impact of SB 42 was consolidation and reorganization of the various manuals. The new model utilized comprehensive assessments and release plans, adjusted controls and services based on the parolees' needs; focused on "what works, for whom, and when"; and emphasized.
