ABSTRACT
Traditionally, community corrections administrators’ and managers’ roles include office, officer, and case oversight with a watchful eye on key outcomes like recidivism. In some jurisdictions, upper managers also play a pivotal gate-keeping or liaison role between their office and the broader community, including other criminal justice agencies, media, treatment providers, and the public. In today's community correctional field, however, these fairly standard managerial skills are just a starting point. Probation/parole administrators and managers must also understand, facilitate, teach, and supervise adoption (choosing and training on), implementation (putting into workplace practice), and sustainability (maintaining use over time) of evidence-based practices (policy/practice backed by sound science). That is, instead of working to simply monitor and manage outcomes, community corrections supervisors now act as “change agents”, a role that has them looking for ways to improve organizational policy and process to align with the “what works” agenda.
