The New Intensive Supervision Movement

Abstract

In the face of severe institutional crowding across the United States, the 1980s has seen a revitalization of probation and parole through reliance on intensive supervision programs (ISPs). The ISPs of the 1980s are different from their predecessors of two decades earlier. Experiences with the new ISP movement identifies four areas of concern: stated goals may be difficult to achieve, confusion exists in the identification of appropriate target groups, supervision methods may be inappropriate to some clients, and the operating contexts are sometimes hostile to the ISP movement.