Within the Canadian criminal justice system offenders are often placed back into the community under the supervision of probation officers, as an alternative to incarceration (Griffiths & Murdock, 2014, p. 68). Imposed as a sentence by the Criminal Court judge, in a number of different ways and under different circumstances, probation is the most commonly used strategy for this type of supervision (Griffiths & Murdock, 2014, p. 92). When sentenced to probation, a criminal offender is placed under supervision in the community for a set amount of time up to three years, and is required to follow any general and specific conditions outlined by the court (Griffiths & Murdock, 2014, p. 69). Key to the success of correctional interventions include…
In order to conduct a comparison between two probation agencies, my first instincts was to choose two agencies that were opposite of each other on the United States map. The two agencies that I chose were the Parole and Probation Division in Salem, OR and the Parole and Probation Division in Jefferson City, MO. At first glance it appeared as though the agency in Salem, OR provided and implemented very little resources to its parolees that would reduce the risk of recidivism and promote offender change. However, as I began to perform additional research on both agencies, I not only noticed that Salem, OR had sufficient programs but most of their programs were similar to those of Jefferson City, MO. The similarities between the two divisions…
Federal probation officers help offenders reenter society by directing them towards helpful resources and supervising them in the community. They pursue education in areas such as psychology and criminal justice and find it rewarding to keeping the public safe while helping offenders reform. The officers use scientific methods, experience and training to predict risks and to identify ways to reduce recidivism. The need for these professionals is increasing as American legislators look for more efficient crime management methods.…
He also knew it needed a change, particularly the probation program. Parole is conditional release from prison, granted to inmates who have already served part of their sentence. Probation is an alternative to prison time, offered by the court during sentencing. So rather than doing hard time in a cell, the guilty party remains free - with certain stipulations. They vary by jurisdiction, but typically include paying a restitution fee, reporting to a probation officer, refraining from alcohol, being subject to drug tests and staying within geographic areas.…
2. In the textbook they first start by explaining what parole is, followed by its origin. Parole did not originally start in the United States, it evolved greatly in the 19th century following the practices of the Australians, English, and Irish. The practices in these countries were to essentially move prisoners out of the prisons due to overcrowding, labor shortages, and the high cost of incarceration (Clear). Indeterminate sentencing, on the other hand, gives more control over the time prisoners serve to correctional officials and parole boards.…
A change such as this will have a domino effect and show other staff members that positive changes can occur and that the voices of the employees is valuable and is being heard. Parole is a major portion of every part of a prison facility and on a daily basis I personally speak to numerous counselors to answer time calculation questions, parole questions, probation questions and often why a person is back in prison questions. The parole department is vital to the timely release of offenders from the facility as well as the continued incarceration of those who violate the rules of parole. While all departments are interconnected, all departments rely on the parole process in some way. Whether it is because the parole board has mandated an offender…
The most challenging issues faced in the probation industry are dealing with the parolees not willing to help themselves into a better rehabilitative state. Probation officers can help probationers better their lives by following mandatory protocols depending on their charges such as goals of probation, risk and needs assessments, programs and approaches and cognitive-behavioral therapies. Probation officers goal is to determine what they are attempting to achieve through supervision. Because there are many programs and conditions that influence if the individual is going to be successful being on probation, leading to success is a complicated task and very challenging.…
Release from Incarceration Inmates being released from incarceration and put back into the community can be a challenging stage for the inmate. The inmate could be released on parole and serve the rest of his time with good behavior or he can violate his parole, and have it revoked. The inmates are also offered programs that would help them transition back into the community more successfully. When an inmate is transitioning back into the community, they are basically changing all of their bad habits and creating good ones so they can function successfully in society. One widely used program that helps the inmate refrain from doing bad things out in the community, by supervision, after they are released, is parole.…
Probation is basically a supervised warning. I call it a supervised warning because it’s a warning that if you break another law, or break your promises, they will send you to jail, and the government will watch you to make sure you don’t do either of those. Probation comes with terms to make sure that they don’t commit any more crimes, while they are under the court’s supervision. These terms may or may not include incarceration time, but these instances will vary in each case. Parole is an early release from a long prison sentence.…
Parole is a release for the prisoners due to good behavior, and can be before their completion of sentencing. Parole isn’t given to just any offender. People are in prison due to minor crimes or major crimes. Anyone can commit these crimes for various reasons. The parole boards job is to have the decision of whether to let an inmate to society.…
By keeping these rehabilitated individuals out of the prisons, have created more space for the more serious offenders. The Probation program main focus is on Recidivism. It is a continual effort to provide strategies and treatment to achieve this goal. Studies have been conducted on Probation, and it is proven that recidivism rates vary depending on the place, seriousness of the crime, population, length of probation, and amount and quality of intervention, surveillance and enforcement (Schmalleger, Ortiz Smykla 2015, p.105). Pros and Cons of both Programs…
The period of probation will not exceed the maximum punishment for the appropriate classification of offense. Even if the defendant’s term of probation is not ordered by the court, there are restricted that the courts are authorized to have convicted person to follow. They most refrain from stalking any other individual during the time of probation. No contact is allowed with the victim, the victim’s children, siblings, spouse, parent or dependant. The offender must be evaluated by a psychiatric, psychological, or social counseling to determine if one is needed.…
The main issue that I see with Probation is that they expect parolees to act like adults and take responsibility for what they've done yet treat them like children, and will punish them as so. They need permission on where they can go or who they can go out with. This is counterproductive to the reentry of them into society. The law has always stated innocent until proven guilty, Consequently when they are on pretrial release they remain treated as if they are found guilty. Required to call in every morning and hoping their number isn’t called to have to take a drug test to see if you are on anything, although this is required through the courts the person on release is still obligated to pay for it out of their pocket.…
Vanson Ma 12/3/15 ENGL 2000 Rehabilitation vs. Punishment As Americans, we are very proud of our freedom. Ironically, the “land of the free” has more people imprisoned in proportion to its population than any other developed country in the world. There are over 2 million prisoners throughout the United States, and approximately 750,000 of them will be released within the year. With the current methods in place in the prison system, most offenders will likely fall back into the same way of life that originally landed them in jail. In fact, roughly two-thirds of prisoners being released today will end up back in prison within the next three years (Petersilia).…
Probation is a sentence that takes place within the community rather than a prison. The offender is supervised by a designated probation officer who oversees the offender and enforces any conditions placed upon them by the court. It emerged as a response to the strict uniformity of penal institutions and is a move towards the individualisation of sentencing, as punishment can be tailored to the individual needs of the offender (McLaughlin and Muncie, 2001). Probation was also a response to the overriding penal concern in the 1970’s, which lasted until the early 1990’s, of reducing the prison population, this led to the introduction of an array of alternatives to custody, with the assumption that their existence would enable the courts to use imprisonment more sparingly (Newburn, 2013).…