Blueprint for a Classification System

About the Book

Based on the author's extensive prior 22 year experience in the federal bureau of prisons and an additional 24 years of experience in the american correctional association as a project manager and a consultant to both state and local correctional systems, "blueprint for a classification system: prisons/jails & adults/juveniles" details the procedures for developing a valid, reliable system for classifying offenders and reducing the likelihood of inmate-on-inmate and inmate-on-officer violence. Extensive use is made of on-site data to illustrate each step in the developmental process and instructions are provided to aid in the validation of your classification procedure after it has been developed. Descriptions of the classification process begin with an inmate's initial contact with the criminal justice system and in step-wise fashion follows admitees through admission/orientation, initial classification, and subsequent reclassifications until release. Numerous "how-to's" and the book's addendum and reference sections contain detailed background information and resource citations.

About the Author

Dr. Robert B. Levinson (ph.D. In clinical psychology, michigan state university) has over 45 years of experience in corrections at the national and state levels, and has functioned as a consultant for local correctiojns. After 22 years with the federal bureau of prisons, he mandatorially retired as deputy assistant director for inmate services, which at various times consisted of oversight of: chaplaincy services, inmate classification, educational/vocational training, psychology services, and research. During this period he developed and helped implement the bureau's classification system and the unit management concept for corrections. He, then, was employed for 24 years as a special projects manager for the american correctional association during which time he wrote and directed fedral- and state-funded research, and developed and directed corrections' first and only professional certification procedure.