Chapter3PPT.ppt

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

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Improving Service Delivery

Two goals: Improve productivity at lower cost

Challenges to overcome
System is designed and services delivered from service provider’s perspective
Example 1: Police may determine which crimes to focus on in a neighborhood
Example 2: A prison may determine which inmates are released early due to overcrowding
Agencies operate as if independent in spite of codependence
Systems model example: Police arrests (outputs) become prosecutor’s office cases (inputs)
Supply chain model example: Prisons receive inmates from courts (prison as customer) but supply inmates to parole agencies (prison as supplier)

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

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The Prevalence of Services

The U.S. is a post-industrial (service) society
80% of workforce employed in service sector
Standard of living defined by quality of services
Services contribute over 70% of U.S. income

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

U.S. criminal justice system
2001: employed 2.3 million persons
Half are employed at local level; remainder at state and federal levels
Justice expenditures have increased over the past 25-30 years; the corrections sector has seen the largest increase in expenditures

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

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What is a Service?

Defined
“A service is an activity or series of activities of more or less intangible nature that normally, but not necessarily, takes place in interactions between customer and service employees and/or physical resources or goods and/or systems of the service provider, which are provided as solutions to customer problems” (Gronroos, 1990, as cited in Allen & Sawhney, 2010, p. 72)

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

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Categorizing Services: Bundling with Goods

Services the come with purchased goods
Computer technical support
On-Star service that comes with new vehicle
Services that facilitate the purchase of goods
Computer repair individual fixes computer but customer might have to buy some new software/hardware
Home security company monitors home but customer must buy equipment
Services that are pure (no exchange of goods)
Police patrolling a neighborhood
Public defender representing an indigent client

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Services can be classified according to their connections or bundling with goods.

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Categorizing Services: Commercial v. Non-Commercial

Business to consumer services (commercial)
Individual (consumer) hires a private investigator (business) to assist with a legal case
Business to business services (commercial)
Bank (business) purchases protection from a private security company (business)
Public services (non-commercial)
A prosecutor’s office (public service) represents the state (public)
Not-for-profit services (non-commercial)
The YMCA (not-for-profit service) offers after school programming for at-risk children

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

The first two categories are commercial services as evident by a profit motive.

The last two categories are non-commercial services free of a profit motive.

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Distinctive Features of Services: Customer Involvement

Customer (organizational inputs) must interact with the resources of the organization
Infrastructure
Employees
Equipment
Technology
Customer is dynamic Affects perceptions of service quality
Example: Citizen demands on police are unpredictable. Citizen may request police arrest an offender but legal constraints might prohibit the officer from fulfilling request. Customers demands are unpredictable and may affect perceptions of police performance.

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

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Distinctive Features of Services: Production & Consumption

Services are produced and consumed at the same time Generates difficulties in fixing mistakes
Example: Officer fires his weapon and wounds a suspect in order to protect the public. The suspect is subsequently found to be unarmed. Public safety is produced and consumed simultaneously so the officer can not change his actions after the fact.

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

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Distinctive Features of Services: Perishability

Services must be consumed as they are produced; they cannot be stored
Example: A police chief expects a major protest in town attended by 10,000 individuals. She calls all officers to work that day but only a few dozen protesters show. The cost of all the extra officers is expended; their services are available and cannot be stored until later.

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

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Distinctive Features of Services: Intangibility

Services can be but are difficult to replicate; consumers must rely on reputation to gauge the quality of services that cannot be touched
Example: In many states, citizens are called upon during election time to vote whether sitting judges can be retained. Absent any direct contact with the judge, how are such decisions made when his/her services are intangible? Reputation matters.

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

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Distinctive Features of Services: Heterogeneity

Service delivery varies from customer to customer
Example: Police in a neighborhood adjacent to a college tend to focus on minor crimes such as underage drinking, disorderly conduct, and public drunkenness. College-aged citizens complain that police should focus on more serious crimes like they do in other neighborhoods. Police respond by stating that they are delivering services according to the needs of each community.

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

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Who are C.J. System Customers?

Victims (direct customer)
Agencies assist victim but do they always consider the victim’s needs or treat the victim respectfully?
Offender (indirect customer)
They do not voluntarily seek out criminal justice services but consume them once involved.
Others, including the public (indirect)

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Indirect customers do not voluntarily choose to consume C.J. services. A victim, on the other hand, consciously chooses to call upon these resources.

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Is an Offender a Customer?

Yes, they must be considered if the system is to be designed and services delivered effectively
Consider decisions on how to deal with offenders? These require some knowledge and consideration of the offender as a customer?
Arrest or separate a domestic violence offender
Revoke parole or overlook violations
Sentence to state prison or local jail

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

The decisions on how to process offenders with organizational resources have a profound impact on system effectiveness (e.g., recidivism, crime rates, etc.).

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Offender as Customer Debate

Stems from confusion/how do we identify customers?

Criminal justice is a public service

Direct and indirect customers: positive externalities
Purchaser and consumer: payment via taxes
Example: Robbery suspect is arrested by police and processed at police headquarters. Is the offender a customer? Did they pay for services? Do others benefit from this processing?

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

The argument is that, for public agencies, customers cannot be identified based solely on who pays immediately for the service or who benefits directly. In the example above, the suspect does not pay (except via taxes) and the benefit is primarily to the community. But, the offender should be considered a customer.

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Offender as Customer Debate (cont’d)

Stems from confusion/how do we identify customers?

System is a monopoly

Example: robbery offender does not have alternative for booking and other processing; consequently, they may not be treated as customers

Non-cooperation by the offender

Example: robbery offender does not participate willingly in process

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

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Identifying Customers: Summary

Review
Consider both direct and indirect beneficiaries
Acknowledge that customers do not necessarily pay at the time services are rendered, if at all
Even though many agencies in the criminal justice system hold monopolies, they must consider customer needs given the importance of stakeholders and the power possessed by system actors
Even when customers are non-compliant, system actors may search for the underlying cause of such non-compliance in order to solve problems.
Basic question
If the individual, group, or organization did not exist, would it adversely impact the business or agency?
If yes, then the individual/group/organization is a customer

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

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What is Service-Quality?

Assessed by customers
What services level they expected v. what service level they actually received
How is this gap measured?

Reliability: dependable, free of errors

Example: A prison is expected to house inmates

securely day in and day out. If a prisoner escapes,

questions may be raised about the reliability of

performance.

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

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What is Service Quality? (cont’d)

How is this gap measured?

Responsiveness: willingness to help, promptness

Example: An offender may expect to be able to

access his/her public defender at any time for

advice.

Assurance: ability to inspire confidence, respect

Example: A detective may contact a victim to reassure

her that the department is closing in on a suspect and to offer

advice on issues such as filing an insurance claim and seeking

victim services.

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

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What is Service Quality? (cont’d)

How is this gap measured?

Tangibles: physical facilities, equipment, appearance of personnel

Example: A police department requires certain physical

fitness standards for all officers, not just new recruits in order

to portray a certain image to the public.

Empathy: caring, individualized attention

Example: An officer catches a juvenile spraying graffiti and returns

the child to his parents. After lecturing the child, the officer

expresses his understanding of the challenges of parenting and

provides his cell phone number to the family.

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

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Other Service Quality Problems

Consumer Expectation- Management Perception Gap (Gap 1)
Management does not understand consumer expectations
Example: A prosecutor might not realize that jurors expect to see scientific evidence (the CSI-effect)
Management perception-service quality specification gap (Gap 2)
Managers unable to set targets to meet citizen expectations
Example: Community policing encourages citizen-officer contact but officers are not given time to attend community meetings. Management must set goals.

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 3: Service Quality Approach

The gap between what customers expect and receive is just one type of service quality gap.

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Other Service Quality Problems (cont’d)

Service quality specifications- service delivery gap (Gap 3)
Services are not delivered as prescribed by management
Example: Probation officers are supposed to visit probationers three times per month but workload limits visits to just one
Service delivery-external communications gap (Gap 4)
Media and others raise expectations to unachievable levels
Example: A local newspaper heightens expectations of local citizens about a new anti-crime program that, due to poor funding, never really gets off the ground.

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

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Assessing Quality in Criminal Justice Agencies: 5 Perspectives

Content: are procedures followed?

Followed protocol in approaching dangerous suspect?
Interrogated using approved methods?
Diagnosed using systematic instruments?

Process: are the steps for service delivery followed in order and logical?

Has the treatment of an offender progressed logically?
Are probationers being supervised as much as possible?

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

May link with research methods. Many are evaluation types.

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Assessing Quality in Criminal Justice Agencies: 5 Perspectives

Structure: is organization designed to facilitate service delivery?

Are employee evaluations consistent with organizational goals?
Does design allow officers flexibility to complete work?

Outcome: is the public satisfied?

How many rings before 911 calls are answered?
How many complaints received?

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

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Assessing Quality in Criminal Justice Agencies: 5 Perspectives

Impact: what is the long-term effect on the consumer?

Is crime going down in the community?
Is an offender less likely to recidivate?

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

Administration and Management in Criminal Justice

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Reference no: EM132069492

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