Criminal Justice Management

Key Terms

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Chapter 2

Bureaucracy: refers to how organizations are structured, ruled, or socially organized and includes hierarchy, specialization and rule of law.

Closed/Open Organization: a closed organization is one that is not affected by its environment and an open one is.

Democratic Accountability: is the value in government that the public sector, or the managers and workers in government, are accountable to those who have been democratically elected and /or politically appointed.

Discretion: is the ability to make choices and to act, or not act, on that choice.

Ethics: the study of, or the act of, doing the right thing in the professional sphere (Braswell, 1998). Doing the right thing in the private sphere is understood to be morality.

Formal/Informal Goals: formal goals are those that are written down and reflected in the formal organization's mission statement, the organizational chart, the policy manual, memoranda and in training curricula. Informal goals are those that reflect the norms of behavior of organizational members.

Formal/Informal Organization: reflects the goals, values and beliefs that are officially acknowledged and authorized (formal organization) and unofficially sanctioned (informal organization). 

Justice: in this text means that those who are guilty are caught, processed and sanctioned, as befits community, professional and moral standards, by system actors. Justice, for our purposes, also means that those who are innocent are given ample opportunity, and the due process necessary, to ensure they are not caught up in, and sanctioned by the system.

 Management: of organizations may refer to one or more persons who have formal control over the organization or the word may refer to the act or process of operating the organization.

Neutral Competence: is the value that government service should be politically neutral and focused on the skills and abilities of workers to do the job at hand, rather than on their political allegiances.

Organization: a grouping of people arranged and coordinated to accomplish some purpose.

Organizational Integrity: an organization whose actors as a whole are honest, ethical and can be trusted by their members and the community,

Politics: refers to the processes involved in decision-making about and within various organizations, whether they are private or public, formal or informal.

Chapter 3

Deontological Ethical Systems: are concerned with whether the act itself is good. If the act is moral or ethical then the consequences are unimportant, according to someone who is guided by a deontological system.

Deviance by Staff:might be defined as involving behavior that violates the statutes, institutional rules or procedures, or ethical codes for individual or organizational gain or even as a means of serving a “noble cause” (Bartollas & Hahn, 1999; Crank & Caldero, 2000; Lee & Visano, 1994).

Egoism:someone who believes in this framework thinks that “[w]hat is good is that which benefits me” (Pollock, 1998:48).

Ethical Behavior: action that is regarded as “right” as per the ethical codes, rules and procedures, and statutes that govern the professional sphere.

Ethical Formalism: Believers state that “[w]hat is good is that which conforms to the categorical imperative” (Pollock, 1998:48).

Ethics: The study of what is right and wrong behavior in the professional sphere. Morality is the same basic concept as ethics, but it involves the private sphere.

Ethics of Care: ethical framework believers subscribe to the statement that “[w]hat is good is that which meets the needs of those concerned” (Pollock, 1998:48).

Ethics of Virtue: ethical framework believers propose that “[w]hat is good is that which conforms to the golden mean” (Pollock, 1998:48).

Natural Law: described as “[W]hat is good is that which is natural” (Pollock, 1998:48).

Noble Cause: for police officers it is defined as “[a] profound moral commitment to make the world a safer place to live. Put simply, it is getting bad guys off the street. Police believe they areon the side of angels and their purpose in life is getting rid of bad guys” (Crank & Caldero, 2000:35).

Official Deviance: defined as “[]ctions taken by officials which violate the law and/or the formal rules of the organization, but which are clearly oriented toward the needs and goals of the organization, as perceived by the official, and thus fulfill certain informal rules of the organization” (Lee & Visano, 1994).

Religious Perspective: would include the belief that “[w]hat is good is that which conforms to God’s will” (Pollock, 1998:48).

Teleological Ethical Systems: are focused on the consequences of the act. But if the act is immoral or unethical and results in a “good” outcome then someone guided by a teleological system would be satisfied.

Utilitarianism: described as “[w]hat is good is that which results in the greatest utility for the greatest number” (Pollock, 1998:48).

Chapter 4

Hawthorne Effect: the belief that when humans know they are being studied or watched, they will react to that observation.

Learning Organization: believed to be one that operates in an open environment. For an organization to be effective in such a dynamic milieu, it must learn from that environment. Because the environment of the organization is continually changing, the organization must grow, learn, and adapt as well.

Management by Objectives: a philosophy of management that also contains the elements of both the traditional and the human relations theories, with particular emphasis on the latter in terms of employee relations.

Motivation: for our purposes, defined as “[to] impel, incite; or a stimulus prompting a person to act in a certain way” (Webster’s, 1986:1475).

Quality Circles: worker groups who consider all the data available to them and make decisions.

Theory: defined as “[…] a set of ideas, concepts, principles, or methods used to explain a wide set of observed facts” (Webster’s, 1992:1098).

Total Quality Management (TQM): the idea that the greater the involvement workers or teams have in developing and delivering organizational goals, the higher their level of commitment to achievement of those goals.

Chapter 5

Communication: often defined as a sharing or exchange of information, via a medium, between a sender and a receiver (McLuhan, 1964). As indicated by this definition, information is not just shared; it is at times exchanged for something from the receiver. In other words, communication can be tied to expectations within the organization that there will be a quid pro quo (something for something) in the process.

Formal Communications: usually found in the policies and procedures, the mission statement, training sessions, the training manual, and in official communiqués or memorandums (Morash & Haarr, 1995).

Informal Communications: are the one-on-one conversation, the asides, and the jokes that permeate the workplace (Morash & Haarr, 1995).

Chapter 6

Anticipatory Socialization: begins before the criminal justice worker even starts the job. It occurs as the person anticipates that she might someday work in law, police or corrections.

Authority: is “[t]he right and power to enforce laws, exact obedience, command, determine, or judge” (American Heritage Dictionary, 1992:56).

Charismatic Authority: is based on the personal charm and leadership qualities of the individual.

Formal Socialization: occurs when the worker is exposed to the legal or officially sanctioned requirements of the job.

Informal Socialization: is teaching and learning that takes place on the job. It is outside the officially sanctioned structures of law and procedure and away from the officially recognized instructors.

Occupational Socialization: is “[t]he process by which a person acquires the values, attitudes, and behaviors of an ongoing occupational social system” (Klofas et al. (1990:150)).

Power: is the ability to get others to do what they otherwise would not.

Role: is what you do on the job, be that officially outlined by such things as statutory defined tasks, position descriptions and policies and procedural requirements or unofficially defined by the actual work that is done and required.

Role Ambiguity: occurs when the expectations for the role are not clear or are confusing.

Role Conflict: occurs when there are competing expectations for the role that are difficult to fulfill.

Traditional Authority: is the power one holds in a position like royalty or a head of state or which is vested with a sense of tradition and history.

Legal Authority: is that based in laws and rules that are generally accepted.

Chapter 7

Behavioral Model: under this model it is believed that the most effective leaders are those who balance concern for the needs of the people he supervises, with concern for getting the mission accomplished or production (Stojkovic et al., 1998).

Contingency Theory: based on the consideration of three situational dimensions: (1) leader–member relations, (2) task structure, and (3) position power of the leader. According to this theory, the leadership style employed should adapt to, or be contingent on, these three considerations: if the leader and the members have positive relations (or not), if the task structure (what to do and how to do it) is clear and set (or not), and if the leader is powerful (or not).

Groupthink: “[a] mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members’ strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action” (Janis, 1972:9).

Leadership: an ongoing process of activity involving organizing, decision making, innovating, communicating, team building, culture creation, and molding that is engaged in by workers and supervisors to achieve organizational goals.

Path-Goal Theory: leadership behavior under Path-Goal theory includes the following four styles: directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented.

Political Leader: someone who is either elected or appointed by elected individuals. Such leaders in criminal justice typically include sheriffs, prosecuting attorneys, and sometimes judges.

Relationship Behavior: means that the leader is concerned about the well-being of the followers.

Situational Leadership Theories: focus on leader–member relations, the needs presented by the group, organizational circumstances, and the skills and abilities of the followers. The belief is that different situations require different leaders or leadership skills.

Task Behavior: means that the leader is focused on getting the job done and keeping production up.

Chapter 8

Job Analysis: allows the employer to determine which tasks are routinely required for the job and to ensure that those are then evaluated on the performance appraisal instrument (Latham & Wexley, 1981).

Job Design: refers to how a job or task is structured.

Job Valid Qualification: related to attributes or abilities that are needed to get the job done, such as age, weight, eyesight, and so on.

Performance Appraisals: typically administered in most criminal and other types of agencies, both formally and informally; they serve the same function of affirming good work, noting some areas that might need improvement (if any), and setting goals for the next appraisal period.They also serve as formal departmental documents that can be used to establish a track record of work.

Chapter 9

Affirmative Action: means that an organization takes positive steps to ensure that their
hiring practices are fair and that they do not disparately impact a targeted under represented group.

Intentional Discrimination: (Blumrosen and Blumrosen (2002)) defined the existence of it in their study as when the employment of the minorities and women fell 2 standard deviations below what the average for employment was for those groups, for that industry, job category, and metropolitan area.

Reverse Discrimination: happens when any over represented group is overlooked for jobs, promotions, college admission, or a related opportunity because of their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Chapter 10

Accreditation: the process involved in determining if an agency operates according to set standards.

Mature Coping: means “[d]ealing with life’s problems like a responsive and responsible human being, one who seeks autonomy without violating the rights of others, security without resort to deception or violence, and relatedness to others as the finest and fullest expression of human identity” (Johnson, 1996:98).

Niche: defined as a private world that inmates try to carve out, that serves as a sanctuary offering “[s]heltered settings and benign activities that insulate them (inmates) from the mainline prison” (Johnson, 1996:120).

Standards: typically cover all aspects of operation from prescribing how much training different classes of staff should have, to procedures for handling community members, to the amount of room an inmate needs in a jail, to the ratio of staff to clients that there should be on probation.

Whistle-Blowing: “[t]he disclosure by organization members (former or current) of illegal, immoral, or illegitimate practices under the control of their employers, to persons or organizations that may be able to effect action” (Miceli & Near, 1992:15).

Chapter 11

Budget: a summary of expenses for a given program or organization.

Inflation: defined as “the overall general upward price movement of goods and services in an economy” (U.S. Department of Labor, 2007: www.dol.gov/dol/topic/statistics/inflation.htm).

Line Item Budgets: budgets that are largely based on previous budgets. Each unit of an organization may have input about a given line item. This budget approach is focused on keeping costs down or at least stable. There is not much attention paid to performance or to public need and ongoing program costs are allowed to continue.

Mission-Driven Budgeting or Expenditure Control Budgeting: this approach, suggested by (Whisenand and Ferguson (1996)), focuses on limiting expenditure growth to inflation and community growth, retaining year-end savings in organizations to encourage frugality, funding based on lump sums and not line item to allow program employees some decision-making autonomy.

Performance Budgets: this approach is focused on measuring the performance of a program. Unfortunately, the output of some organizations is not easily quantifiable, though some programs might be.

Planning, Programming, Budgeting Systems: this approach ties all parts of the organization, its present and future plans, together with its budget proposal, funding, and implementation.

Program or Outcome Budgets and/or Budgeting by Objectives: this approach allows for much more input by each unit in the development of the budget or that pesky human element again. Activities are related to outcomes, but decision making is also allowed at the unit level.

Strategic Planning: “[a] disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it” (Bryson, 1995:4–5).

Zero-Based Budgeting: this approach requires that you start with a clean slate, budget-wise, every year. Much data needs to be collected every year to justify the continued funding of each program. It is very difficult to implement as it is time consuming and costly.

Chapter 12

Ad Hominem Attacks: occur in arguments or discussions when the person is attacked or slurred rather than the merits of what that person argued or stood for.

Appeals to Emotions, Patriotism, and Religion: these tactics can take many forms, but essentially they use emotional events or scenes and appeals to God and country to make their (illogical) point.

Begging the Question or Circular Reasoning: involves restating of the same point in the conclusion as was made earlier in an argument.

Decision: a choice made by a thinking being.

Exception Makes the Rule: a logical fallacy that states that if it (whatever the focus of the discourse) happens once or was true once, it must happen all of the time or be true all of the time.

Prediction: in a scientific context: “[a] rigorous (often quantitative) statement forecasting that will happen under specific conditions, typically expressed in the form; if A is true, then B will also be true. The scientific method is built on testing assertions that are logical consequences of scientific theories. This is done through repeatable experiments or observational studies” (Wikipedia (2007:1)).

Red Herring: a logical fallacy—the straw man fallacy could be a subgroup of the red herring—and also a diversionary tactic; as with all of these tactics, it is used to divert from or mask the truth. The difference is that the red herring tactic often entails emotional twist, which is used to impair the ability to make good decisions.

Straw Man: a logical fallacy that is used by those who want to divert attention from the merits of the real argument or situation.

Chapter 13

Consilience: described as a unity of knowledge between several seemingly disparate disciplines (Wilson, 1998).