Applying the PAI Treatment Process Index to PAI-As Completed by Adolescents in a Residential Program

The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) Treatment Process Index (TPI) is a measure of treatment amenability based on an index of factors related to poor treatment outcomes (e.g., hostility, lack of social support, and poor impulse control). In this study, the formula used to calculate the TPI for the adult PAI was applied to PAI-Adolescent (PAI-As) protoocols completed by 372 adolescents (mean age: 16.8 years; 80% male) during a 22-week residential program for at-risk youth. The number of disciplinary infractions received during the program was used as an indicator of the participants’ response to the program. Average PAI-A scale scores and TPI scores were higher than those previously reported for community samples, but lower than those found in clinical samples. TPI scores were positively associated with disciplinary infractions, particularly nonaggressive infractions, when controlling for demographic factors and other clinically relevant variables. Results suggest that the the TPI has relevance for adolescents completing the PAI-A.

A CONDUÇÃO EFICIENTE DE UM PROCESSO ADMINISTRATIVO DISCIPLINAR COMO APOIO À GESTÃO PÚBLICA

The article under the auspices of studies aims to elucidate issues pertinent to the Disciplinary Administrative Process (PAD), and an existing disparity with the Inquiry instrument, in order to conceptualize them as connected and opposing spheres. Therefore, the resolution of the project fails to comply with the search for an analysis of the effectiveness, importance and legal basis of the administrative instruments, considering the current legislation, jurisprudence and corresponding doctrines, in order to avoid formation of processes that present defects and nullities, being -the so-called unnecessary to public management. It was possible to obtain by design that the duty of managers in investigating disciplinary infractions, transcends the mere opening of the appropriate administrative procedure. This is because in addition to being associated with public management, the operator must maintain conduct in compliance with constitutional principles, in opening and judging unnecessary procedures. In a conclusive way, it appears that the Public Administration cannot, as an employer, relieve available absences practiced by its employees, even though its labor expression is of enormous quality. The resulting understanding promotes, finally, the opening of such procedures only when based on elements that make their continuity and useful completion essential, in order to satisfy Management's aspirations and desires. Thus, to encourage the study, the applied precept will be the deductive method and the dialectical hermeneutics, starting from a generalization to a particularized question, with the intention of considering the social practices, in the Administrative-Legal scope, in order to explore the means that use the Administration, to stigmatize its administrators.

Getting Tough? The Effects of Discretionary Principal Discipline on Student Outcomes

Nationwide, school principals are given wide discretion to use disciplinary tools like suspension and expulsion to create a safe learning environment. There is legitimate concern that this power can have negative consequences, particularly for the students who are excluded. This study uses linked disciplinary, education, and criminal justice records from 2008 to 2016 in North Carolina to examine the impact of principal-driven disciplinary decisions on middle school student outcomes. We find that principals who are more likely to remove students lead to reductions in reported rates of minor student misconduct. However, this deterrence comes at a high cost – these harsher principals generate more juvenile justice complaints and reduce high school graduation rates for all students in their schools. Students who committed minor disciplinary infractions in a school with a harsh principal suffer additional declines in attendance and test scores. Finally, principals exhibiting racial bias in their disciplinary decisions also widen educational gaps between White and Black students.

Cell Phones and “Excessive Contact”: The Contradictory Imperatives Facing California’s Parole-Eligible Lifers

A growing literature emphasizes that U.S. correctional systems have remained committed to rehabilitative goals despite their turn toward incapacitation and punishment. Although past research has documented this commitment in prisons and parole supervision agencies, less is understood about how it is manifested in the discretionary parole release process. This article explores whether and how parole boards encourage people serving parole-eligible life sentences (“lifers”) to maintain ties to friends and family outside of prison, and the results of such encouragement. Interviews, ethnographic fieldwork, and parole-hearing transcripts reveal that California’s parole board encourages such rehabilitative ties through comments at parole hearings and through its parole-eligibility criteria. But to sustain these relationships, some lifers engage in misconduct to bypass restrictive prison policies by using contraband cell phones or engaging in physical contact with visitors that is deemed “excessive.” When detected, these disciplinary infractions become a stated cause of parole denials.

The Influence of Sentence Length on the Commission of Serious and Violent Prison Infractions by Female Inmates

This study examined the relationship between sentence length and time to commission of serious and violent disciplinary infractions by female inmates divided into short (2 years or less), intermediate (2-8 years), and long-term (8 or more years) groups. Relying on the intermediate-term group as a referent, a Cox regression model demonstrated that short-term inmates were most likely, and long-term inmates least likely, to commit serious and violent infractions across monthly time intervals during the 2-year study period. All three groups exhibited a low base rate of violent behavior directed toward inmates and staff. Predictors associated with the time to commission of serious and violent acts included age, education, mental health, and custody level. Findings point to the potential for over-classification to more secure custody assignments for some inmates, particularly for long-term female prisoners. Policy, institutional, and clinical implications are discussed, including the need for specialized programming and mental health treatment.

Administrative Records

Schools maintain a variety of records, but these aren’t necessarily analyzed as a source of data for improving school climate. Records of office referrals, suspensions, peer mediation cases, students serving detention, and other incident reports can be examined to learn about disciplinary issues and the school’s response. In addition to getting a sense of how many disciplinary infractions take place in school, it is also valuable to detect changes over time. By examining suspension records over a period of years, school leaders may realize that, along with their efforts to improve school climate and prevent violence, there is also a major increase in suspension rates, an indication that perhaps administrators have used suspension as a major strategy. Given the evidence on the negative outcomes of repeated suspensions, school leaders might reconsider their approach to violence prevention or punishment. Other schools may find that suspensions actually went down when climate improved because fewer students were being disciplined for incidents of violence. While many schools maintain paper records that are difficult to examine and process, others have computerized their reporting system. When computerized databases are available, the potential for educators to learn from the information and make improvements increases dramatically. Careful analysis of existing records can help identify what grade levels of students are most involved in certain behaviors and whether certain students or groups are committing the bulk of infractions. Analyses of these records can also help administrators to understand more about why students are getting in trouble, which students seem to be repeat offenders, and perhaps where and when the incidents are taking place. Absenteeism rates should also be examined in combination with other indicators. Patterns in the data can then be used to see what type of changes might be needed to eliminate the reasons that the students are getting in trouble. These records can also show whether there are certain times during the school year when problems are more likely to occur, such as at the beginning of the year or just before a break.

Disciplinary infractions and restricted housing

Misbehavior occurs within jails and prisons. It is generally handled by a formal disciplinary process. Symptoms and impairments associated with mental illness may play a role in such misbehaviour. One of the many concerns in correctional settings is the use of restricted housing units. Segregation units function as the prison within a prison. Designed for the dangerous and violent offender who cannot be managed safely within the general prison environment, segregation is characterized by single-cell confinement, with minimum time out of cell for showers and exercise (e.g., 5 hours per week). Other features include highly restricted movement, limited contact with others, and few privileges and services. Segregation has been criticized as an inhumane practice due to the degree of social isolation. Specifically, the lack of treatment, programs, and activities to engage the mind; restricted personal contact; lack of control over light and sound; lack of windows; and little or no access to the outdoors are considered to be more extreme than is required for the safe operation of prisons. The most significant issue is whether prisoners are able to psychologically adapt to the austere conditions for long periods, particularly those with mental illness. Because mentally ill inmates may be more prone to rule infractions due to manifestation of their illness, they are more likely to be segregated unless specific rules prohibit their placement. This chapter reviews segregation practices, the data on the potential impact of segregated housing on mental illness, and the role of psychiatry in the disciplinary process.