Panel Track: Probation and Parole Officers: Overworked, Misunderstood, and Often Frustrated. Where Do We Look for Answers?

SESSION INFO

Wednesday, August 30, 2023
9:15 AM - 10:15 AM
Session Type: Special Session

There remain some intractable issues in our profession that often foster burnout, cynicism, and role conflicts. Some of those issues are as follows: Are we clear about the goals of probation, parole, and community corrections?; Is the profession clear about this? What gets counted is what matters. Are we counting the right things in order to steer the work of staff to achieve goals or are we really good at telling stakeholders how busy we are as opposed to how effective we are - or can be. A balanced approach to the supervision of people under some form of community supervision requires treatment/helping + surveillance + enforcement. There is some research evidence that indicates that when a balance approach is employed, public safety is enhanced. Is our profession making everything old new again or are we willing to reinvent ourselves so that public safety and justice are enhanced for all.

SESSION PRESENTERS

Dr. Mario Paparozzi
Professor, University of North Carolina at Pembroke


For 30 years, Dr. Paparozzi worked at the New Jersey Department of Corrections. He held positions from parole officer trainee through supervisory/management titles including Deputy Interstate Compact Administrator, Assistant Commissioner of Community Programs, and Chairman of The New Jersey State Parole Board. Dr. Paparozzi also worked as an adjunct professor of sociology and criminal justice for 20 years. After retiring from his practitioner career, Dr. Paparozzi accepted a faculty appointment at The College of New Jersey’s Department of Law and Justice, where he also served as the Associate Director of The Criminal Justice Research and Policy Center. In 2003, Dr. Paparozzi accepted a position at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. He served as department chair for 15 years. He is currently Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice. Dr. Paparozzi’s numerous publications are extensively cited by scholars and practitioners. Dr. Paparozzi Member of EXiT (Executives Transforming Probation and Parole). From 1992 to 1994, Dr. Paparozzi was a county commissioner in Union County, New Jersey. He served as Finance Committee Chairman and oversaw corrections and social services. Dr. Paparozzi has provided numerous keynote addresses, seminars, and professional training in 46 states, Singapore, the District of Columbia, The United Kingdom, Canada, Bermuda, Poland, Germany, and The Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France. He has served as an international judge for the United Kingdom’s International Community Justice Awards Conference hosted by Her Royal Highness Princess Anne and the British Home Office. Dr. Paparozzi has appeared on several television and radio shows in the United States and Canada, including A&E’s Investigative Reports, NBC’s Dateline, Al Jazeera America, and Geraldo Rivera. He has published op ed articles in major newspapers and has been interviewed by numerous representatives of the print, radio, and television media on topics related to social and criminal justice, government, and other civic-minded issues. He is also a past-president of the American Probation and Parole Association, was a member or the Manhattan Institute's council to reinvent probation, and a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Crime Victims' Legal Center. He founded the New Jersey Parole Officers’ Benevolent Association - PBA #326.