Organizational Boundaries, Inmate Roles, and Rehabilitation

Abstract

This paper attempts to evaluate rehabilitation programs by focusing upon the transactions at the boundaries of an organiza tion and upon the social roles of delinquent boys. The social roles are examined before and shortly after the boys enter a treatment organization to determine whether inmates reproduce their delinquent, community social roles in the rehabilitative organization and whether these roles are modified as part of the treatment. The research demonstrates that inmates reproduce delinquent social roles within the treatment organization and that these roles, over time, are subsequently modified. Differences in the amount of modification and kind of duplication for gang and non-gang delinquents suggest that different organizational structures can inhibit or facilitate deviant community roles.