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Using Organizational Values to
Select Organizational Partners
roBerto HugH Potter and gail sears Humiston
Criminal justice (CJ) organizations are
In our previous article (American Jails, interacting more and more with a wide
July/August 2021), we introduced the range of nongovernmental (NG) organi
necessity of interorganizational rela zations in their broader organizational
tionships to develop and implement environment. Relatively little attention is
evidencebased practices/programs. paid to these NG organizations—as poten
In this article, we are addressing ways tial partners—in the academic literature.
that criminal justice organizations In this article, we utilize criminological
can assess the “goodness of fit” for theory—specifically Merton’s (1967) ideas
potentially partnering with a non on adaptations to structural strain (“Anomie
governmental organization—beyond Theory”)—to classify NG organizations
whether individuals from these two along a continuum in terms of expressing
types of organizations get along well. “conventional” values and adopting the
This is important because of the well means to achieve valued outcomes. This
known “churn” of personnel within leads us to some of the ways in which a cor
many organizations due to promotions, rectional agency could consider partnering
retirements, and movement. Of course, with NG organizations in their jurisdiction.
this assumes that there are choices from
among the nongovernmental organiza
tions in your environment. For smaller
jurisdictions, choices may be limited.
AMERICANJails SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2021 | 45
