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Chapter11PPT.pptAdministration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
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Community Corrections
- Overview
- Represent non-incarceration sanctions
- Allow offenders to maintain support relationships with family, employers, educators, etc.
- Examples
- Probation and parole (the emphasis of this chapter)
- Furloughs
- Halfway houses
- Electronic monitoring
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
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Probation: Overview
- Court sentence that allows offender to remain under community supervision (non-incarceration) as long as the individual complies with court sanctions and conditions
- People involved
- Probationer
- Probation officer
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Probationer is placed on community supervision instead of sentenced to a term of incarceration.
Probation officer is appointed by the court to monitor offender and ensure compliance with terms of probation.
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Probation: History
- Probation derived from Latin probatio, meaning
“to test or to prove.” - Probation, in its modern form, began in 1841
- John Augustus is credited with developing the modern probation idea
- Asked judge to allow him to supervise offenders in the community and help them reform
- Probation widely used with juvenile offenders after formation of first juvenile court in 1899
- All states have used probation since at least 1956
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
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Probation: Goals
- Protect society by preventing additional crimes
- Probation officer prepares presentence investigation report (PSI) detailing offender history
- The report is designed to help judge make a more informed sentencing decision and to establish the treatment and supervision needs of the offender
- A parole board might also use the PSI to determine readiness for release
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
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Probation: Goals (cont’d)
- Help offenders
- Probation officers enforce conditions imposed by the court (curfews, counseling requirements, etc.)
- Probation officers serve as referral agents by identifying probationer needs and connecting them to support services
- Violations of conditions may lead to removal from the community (revocation of probation); officer uses discretion
- Technical violations
- New offenses
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Technical violations include violating conditions (e.g., curfews, drug testing, securing employment) other than the commission of new offenses.
Discretion is often based on the seriousness of the violation; warnings are common.
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Probation Revocation
- If violations occur, a probation officer can use his/her discretion
- Ignore
- Issue a warning
- Pursue revocation of probation
- If, during a revocation hearing, it is determined that conditions have been violated, several options exist
- Offender is reprimanded and returned to probation
- Additional conditions are placed on offender
- Offender is incarcerated (probation is revoked)
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
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Parole: Overview
- Conditional release of prisoner to community supervision after serving some period of incarceration
- Types of release
- Discretionary
- Mandatory
- Regardless of release mechanism, parolees must comply with conditions or face revocation
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Discretionary release: A parole board determines the release of the individual based on suitability for reentry.
Mandatory release: Occurs when inmates serve a minimum sentence minus good time credits.
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Parole: History
- Modern parole is linked to Zebulon Brockway, superintendent of the Elmira Reformatory
- Late 1800s used indeterminate sentences allowing prison to determine release date
- Asked for community members and, later, volunteer prison societies to supervise released offenders in the community
- Late 1970s, indeterminate sentences were increasingly replaced by determinate/mandatory sentences
- Parole boards became less important
- Most offenders released early are released via mandatory mechanisms
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
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Parole: Goals
- Varied
- Promote offender rehabilitation
- Assist in transition from incarceration to the community
- Ensure safety and security
- Consequences include diminished services for parolees
- New penology
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Parole officers focus on safety and security. There are limited slots in service provider agencies to deal with large number of parolees. Due to the conditions of parole, many offenders are returned to prison before any services are provided. Caseloads prevent officers from acting as referral agents.
The new penology focuses on managing risks rather than providing services and meeting needs
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Probation and Parole Officers
- Serve dual roles
- Law enforcement officer: monitor behavior and ensure compliance
- Social worker/caseworker: providing services and identifying resources to assist offender
- Role orientation
- Depending upon personality, officers tend to adopt one role more often than another
- Leads to inconsistent service provision
- Goal is to try to merge to roles together
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
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Officers as Resource Brokers
- Historically, officers developed relationships and worked to solve offender problems directly or indirectly through referrals
- As resource brokers, the officer is still the primary supervisor of the case but services are farmed out to other service providers who administer treatments and services
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
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Caseload Types
- Generalized caseloads
- Officer monitors offenders with various needs
- Some require minimum officer intervention/supervision, others require more officer intervention/supervision
- Specialized caseloads
- Officer monitors offenders with similar needs
- Offenders are similar in their requirements for intervention or supervision
- Examples: young offenders; sex offenders; high risk offenders
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Specialized caseloads are common when:
- Agencies have resources
- There is demand (a large number of offenders in a specific category)
- Officers possess the skills and knowledge to address specific client needs
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Probation and Parole as an Open System
- Many outside entities (family, employers, etc.) interviewed in PSI reports
- External service providers brought to bear on treatment of offenders
- External agencies provide feedback regarding offender’s progress
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
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Issues Confronting Probation and Parole
- Not especially successful in reducing recidivism
- Possible explanations
- Lack of funding: evidenced by excessive caseloads and higher spending on institutional corrections
- Changing offender demographics: not all offenders are low-risk due to prison crowding and increased use of mandatory release
- Less individualization of conditions: all offenders tend to receive many restrictions
- Paperwork: amount of paperwork precludes supervision
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
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Adjusting to Meet Client Needs
- Allow probation or parole officers to make changes to supervision conditions on an as-needed basis
- Currently, officers must petition court for changes
- Officers need to adapt rapidly to changing client needs
- Avoid a “blanket approach” to violations where all offenses result in revocation
- Negative reinforcements are not necessarily effective
- Could lead to rebellion
- May breed hostility from client toward officer
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
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Adjusting to Meet Client Needs (cont’d)
- Strengthen collaborations
- Critical for successful reentry of offender
- Reconsider the number of restrictions on offenders
- Too many restrictions sets offender up for failure
- Difficult for officers to manage
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 11: Probation and Parole
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