Section I: How to Use the Appropriateness Statements to Develop Practice Guidelines

Each appropriateness statement (1) describes a common supervision condition and how it is used, (2) provides available evidence on the condition, (3) gives the perceptions of probation/parole staff and JSI to highlight issues that may arise when using the condition with diverse populations, (4) offers recommendations for when to use the conditions in a procedurally just manner, and (5) details considerations for five common supervision populations. See the Appropriateness Statement Outline below for what is contained in each statement.

This collection of statements is a tool to review and refine current policy and practices. The final products of this process are Practice Guidelines, which are written statements that define a practice (i.e., condition) while specifying when and how it should be used according to agency procedure. They are agency-specific in the sense that they are tailored to the agency, its personnel, and its working environment. Below are recommendations to accomplish this:

1. Assemble teams to review the practices (teams should be 8 to 12 members). The teams include a cross-section of the supervision agency including line, support and administrative staff. It is also useful to include a judge, prosecutor, defense attorney, treatment provider, person who has been under supervision, and other community members on the team.
2. Each office may have 2 to 3 teams to review different types of practices: contacts, compliance-monitoring, treatment, etc.
3. Each team is given data on the practice. When possible, the data should cover the past three years and be drawn from agency records. It should include:
   1. How the practice is defined
   2. How the practice is usually assigned (i.e., by judge/parole board, by agency requirements, by statute, by common practice)
   3. The frequency that the practice is used
   4. How the practice affects outcomes in terms of meeting requirements and completion of supervision
   5. How the practice affects rearrest or technical violations during the period of supervision
   6. The typical pattern of additional requirements usually assigned along with the practice
4. The team reviews the data and identify areas where the practice is useful and appropriate or burdensome and not appropriate.
5. The team then discusses why the practice is used and how to improve the practice, including limiting the practice to situations where it is warranted.
6. The team works toward reducing the number and type of unnecessary or unhelpful practices used to increase overall effectiveness.
7. The team writes up guidelines for each set of practices.
8. The team develops a presentation for other members of the agency and stakeholders to outline why changes in practices are needed and what those recommendations are.
9. The team designs a pilot to test out the new practices. Included in this design should be statements on:
   1. Informing the person under supervision of the purpose of conditions/requirements and the pilot
   2. Informing stakeholders about the pilot and the goal of the pilot
10. The pilot should run for 12 to 18 months where data is collected and progress reports routinely shared.

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