Probation officer

“ Here was the ideal probation officer, whose feeling for his ward was something more than chilly professional solicitude; and splendidly did these men do their work. Many of them did more than show a passing interest in the offenders assigned to them. They often gave them employment and encouraged them by increasing their wages from time to time. It was a common thing for substantial business men to appear in court and offer employment to persons whom they wished placed on probation, agreeing at the same time to report regularly as to their subsequent conduct. ”

“ How to secure suitable probation officers is the most important problem in the probation system. In states where judges are appointed for life, as in Massachusetts, the method of appointment by the judge under whom the officer acts has worked well. But even here are found some judges, happily few in number, who persist in retaining officers little adapted for the work. Where judges persist in such conduct, after being shown its blighting effect on probation work in their district, it is usually because the judge himself takes no interest in probation. ”

“ Were each court of a town, village or small city to have its own probation officer, the officers as a rule would be without enough cases to occupy their time, and they would be underpaid and inexperienced. ”

“ Now if it is wasteful and undesirable to employ two or more probation officers to serve in a territory where one could do the work, and if it is wasteful and undesirable to employ two or more parole officers to serve in a territory where one could do the work, why should we employ in a given area one probation officer to supervise persons on probation, and one or more parole officers to perform practically the same kind of work with respect to persons on parole, provided the work of all these officers could be done equally well by only one officer? ”

“ Agency B.—"I have seen very few individuals in the course of my experience who could not be brought to see the right viewpoint if they were intelligently approached, even though the probation officer had considerable to do with their arrest. It is in my opinion not altogether important what occurs before the man's arrest but how he is treated after he comes within the jurisdiction of the probation officials." ”

“ As the Departmental Committee under the English probation law recently expressed it, ‘the probation officer must be a picked man or woman endowed not only with intelligence and zeal, but in a high degree with sympathy and tact and firmness.’ When a properly qualified and earnest probation officer is attached to every court in Massachusetts, the probation problem will be solved. ”

“ We have in the past decade witnessed an extraordinary development in many States of the Union of a system which is in effect an effort to carry personal interest, care, affection, uplifting influence, inspiring personality, into the home. This is the probation system. The probation officer is simply a representative of the community striving to make up that which has been lacking; to counteract the slowly acting influences which have made for deterioration; to set in motion the recuperative factors in the individual and in his immediate environment. ”

“ The probation officer is present at the judge’s side when he decides a case, and is given charge of the offender, whom he takes by the hand, either at his parent’s residence or at school, and continually supervises, having power if necessary to bring him again before the judge. ”

“ In England, after the advocacy of the probation system by the Howard Association, an Act was passed in 1887 ``to permit the conditional Release of first Offenders in certain cases.'' This law combines probation with sureties for good conduct. Judgment is given, but sentence is not pronounced. The suspension is not granted to any one who has previously committed an offence, or whose first offence would be liable to a punishment exceeding two years' imprisonment. There is no probation officer, for supervision is replaced by personal or other sureties for good behaviour. ”

“ It is earnestly to be hoped that all our police lieutenants and police magistrates will speedily come to appreciate how greatly the probation officer can assist them and the Court, and will let no case be heard without having previously notified the nearest probation officer. ”

“ Execution of the last-mentioned sentence was suspended, and the court granted probation upon the following terms: 'During such time as the defendant reports regularly every three months in writing, beginning with this date, to the federal probation officer of this court; during which time he entirely refrains from any violation of any law with the possible exception of parking and traffic ordinances, and in all respects conduct himself as a law-abiding citizen. In case of the violation of the terms of probation, the defendant will be brought before the court and sentenced. ”

“ In paragraph 3 (1) (b) (remuneration, allowances and expenses of probation officers) , for “prescribed” substitute “determined by the Secretary of State under paragraph 18A below”.
(3) In paragraph 9 (selection of probation officer for probationer) , omit the words from “or if” to “place” (which provide for the selected officer to be changed at the instance of the case committee) .
(4) In paragraph 18 (1) (b) (power to make rules prescribing conditions of service etc. of probation officers and others) omit “conditions of service”. ”

“ In order to maintain a high standard of probation work, the executive officer of the state board should periodically investigate the work of every probation officer; and there should be frequent conferences of the judges and of the probation officers conducted by members of the state board.
As to the organization of a parole system—for the present the machinery of the probation system might well be utilized for this work. The vital point in parole work is the appointment of a suitable board to determine to whom and when parole shall be granted, and on what terms. ”

“ Also, the Defendant is subject to probation conditions by which he is required to report to a probation officer every four months for one year and to perform community services, as found appropriate by the probation officer and the Defendant himself, for twelve hours in compliance with the Criminal Code, section 56. ”

“ Effectiveness in probation work requires that the area covered by each probation officer shall be small, and that the officer shall live in the community where he works.
Fourth, probation officers in different courts, so far as possible, should avoid overlapping each other’s territory. New Jersey, New York and certain other states have organized the probation service in rural districts with the county as the unit area, and with one or more paid probation officers available to serve in all courts throughout the county. ”

“ The probation officers attend the court and the judge officially gives up the prisoner to the officer chosen to supervise him, generally explaining to the prisoner that, if he is not obedient to all the rules made for him by the officer, he will be returned to court and prison will be his fate. An officer generally has from sixty to eighty cases under his care. Women officers are in charge of women and boys and girls under eighteen. A probation officer has a special area of the town allotted to him and usually gets all prisoners from that area. ”

“ Second, the parole officer should be spared from having more cases assigned to his care than his time permits him to attend to as he should. If fifty probation cases are usually enough to occupy a probation officer, an equal number of parole cases is probably as many as the average parole officer can properly look after at any one time. ”

“ It is the opinion of experts that proper probationary treatment can be given only when the child is placed under the officer for sufficient length of time to allow the officer to do really constructive work with the child, so that it will be of lasting influence in his life. If the offense is not sufficiently serious to require a substantial probation period, then it is not of sufficient importance to have the probation officer spend his time with the case. ”

“ In general, the probation officer should be the best friend of the other social workers, since he knows their language. Indeed, many social workers themselves combine the office of probation officer with their other duties.
After the institution of court proceedings the outside social worker has usually little chance to affect the disposition of the case. This is made by the judge on the basis of the testimony he elicits in court, and on that of any preliminary investigation he may have caused to be made. Disposition may be ”

“ Probation officer handed boys to truant officer, who immediately placed them in school. Boys report each week, come to office in Sunday clothes and evidently enjoy these visits. One lad has been employed on Saturdays, by probation officer’s clerk, doing odd jobs and is very proud of this evidence of favor. ”

“ Petitioner declared that he twice initiated investigation of the legality of his sentence. The probation officer obviously checked with someone long before petitioner was brought to court for what is now called his 'first' sentence. We cannot simply assume that the facts did not come to the attention of any responsible person. ”

“ Unfortunately, we have yet some probation officers who fail to come up to the standard, men who never interest themselves in their probationers outside of the courtroom, or take any concern as to their idleness, their companionship or habits, and do nothing to secure the confidence of the probationer or to aid him in restoring himself to manhood and good citizenship. The evils of continuing improper officers are so great that in my opinion it should be rendered impossible by requiring the approval by the Commission on Probation of all probation officers appointed by the court. ”

“ Increasingly common is the probation system, the essence of which is to suspend the sentence of the court upon certain conditions. The offender is placed in charge of a court officer who will stand in the relation of friend and guardian to him, in order to supervise his conduct and to attempt his reformation. ”

“ There cannot be any discussion as to who should appoint probation officers. It is absurd to say that any person outside of the judge should appoint. I personally should refuse, if a judge, to place anybody on probation if the probation officers were appointed by any one but the court or judge. As a matter of fact I doubt seriously whether in New York State there would be any legal power in any other body to make any such appointment. ”

“ This jurisdiction is not divided between that court and a distant judge who sat by designation at the defendant's trial.
Third. What has been said indicates the answer to petitioner's argument that the probation officer of the Southern District, by appearing before Judge Inch in the Eastern District upon the application for termination of the proceedings, and the United States attorney, by stipulating that Judge Inch might return to the Southern District to hear a motion for resettlement of his order, have waived venue or are estopped to question it. ”

“ To further define these essentials, we need judges who will not discredit the system by extending probation to persons not likely to profit by it, and who will apply it wherever it can be done with due regard to the protection of the community, and where the past history and present disposition of the person investigated indicate that he may reasonably be expected to reform without punishment. And we need probation officers who possess not only sympathy and zeal, but knowledge of human nature, tact, firmness and patience. ”

“ The two essentials of success in probation work are:—judges who have an intelligent and sympathetic interest in the problem, and probation officers fitted by temperament and training to secure the best possible results. ”

“ First, those who act as probation officers should possess the right personal qualifications. They should be intelligent, devoted, firm, sympathetic, tactful, discreet, observant, energetic and resourceful. ”

“ All such officers seem eager to respond to human appeals and their spirit is an indication of the sincerity of their work. It is not only probation officers who thus save the courts both time and money and promote individual and social welfare. While official probation work is a part of the judicial function, a great deal of unofficial probation work is done which, through its preventive nature, relieves the court of labor. Teachers and social workers of various types are doing similar work to that of probation officers in their attempt to prevent crime and delinquency. ”

“ I saw that as their numbers increased, it would become impossible for me to keep in personal touch with all these offenders. No parole law for adults, with its paid probation officers, exists in Illinois, and no funds for this purpose were available. I determined, therefore, to appeal to the business men of the district to serve as volunteer probation officers. ”

“ One institution and then another has gradually adopted parole methods and employed parole officers, but without much, if any, regard for other parole systems or for the probation system. Year by year these two systems have grown up side by side, and the numbers of probation officers and of parole officers have increased. There are now nearly 1,000 paid probation officers in the United States, and the number of parole officers is probably in the hundreds and still multiplying. ”