Practice Goals/Target Population
Swift, certain, and fair (SCF) supervision strategies are used by community supervision officers to address violation behavior of individuals (who have histories of drug involvement) on probation and parole. To complete probation and parole, drug-involved individuals are required to follow rules and conditions (such as abstaining from substance use). The idea behind SCF strategies is for community supervision officers to 1) quickly address violations (swift), 2) address all violations (certain), and 3) follow specific sanctioning guidelines (fair). Overall, the goals are to generate greater compliance with supervision terms and, as a result, reduce recidivism (Hawken, Davenport, and Kleiman 2014; Drake 2012).
Practice Components
Participants are required to check in with their community supervision officers regularly and are drug-tested frequently (and often randomly). Program lengths generally range from 3 to 6 months but may vary depending on the underlying sentences of participants and the populations being served.
Programs that use SCF sanctions differ in the types of sanctions delivered when individuals violate the terms of their supervision and how many violations have occurred in the past. The sanctions are designed to be immediate and proportional to the violation. For example, in some programs the first sanction is noncustodial (e.g., if a participant fails a drug test, then there may be an increase in the number of random drug tests), whereas sanctions in other programs may be custodial (e.g., short stays in jail). In response to repeat violations, programs may use graduated sanctions, with each subsequent violation resulting in a more punitive sanction.
In addition, some programs that use SCF sanctions may also provide case management to individuals on probation and parole, especially to drug-involved individuals. Case management is a process to coordinate and monitor services; the goals are to improve collaboration between correctional staff and substance abuse treatment staff and increase participation in substance abuse treatment. There are a variety of strategies used by case managers or specially trained community supervision officers to assess participants’ treatment and programming needs. When those needs are assessed, case managers/supervision officers coordinate access to treatment (such as for substance abuse), monitor the individual’s progress, and advocate on the individual’s behalf, if needed.
Practice Theory
Programs that use SCF sanctions have strong theoretical ties to deterrence theory, which focuses on the swiftness, certainty, and severity of consequences to deter undesirable behavior (O’Connell et al. 2011). Within this model, certainty and immediacy of consequences are critical to desistance from further criminal behavior and substance abuse.
Moreover, programs using SCF sanctions are also based on procedural justice theory. Specifically, it is believed that individuals are most likely to obey the terms of their supervision when they know the terms; perceive these terms and those who enforce them, as fair; believe that violations will be detected; and believe that the consequences of violations will be unpleasant, yet fair (Hawken, Davenport, and Kleiman 2014)
