Punitive Officer Probation

Probation is a sentence where the convicted offender gets a conditional release into the society. In the correctional system, probation plays a role where it is a process that correct offenders and acts as a filter in the jail and prison systems. The start of probation began in Massachusetts by John Augustus. While volunteering at a court in Boston during the mid-1800s, he was observed a man being charged for drunkenness and intervened before the man would end up in the Boston House of Correction (Hanser, 2017). He posted bail for the man and helped the defendant find a job while supervising and supporting him. After the defendant had to return to court, the judge granted leniency in sentencing after seeing how much he has been reformed.

In 1964, Daniel Glaser’s study argued that officers have the tendency to balance their work as a law enforcer and a broker of services. According to Robert D. Hanser’s Introduction to Corrections (2017), the different types of probation officers include paternal officers, punitive officers, welfare workers, and passive agents (pg.118). Paternal officers are those that operate by balancing both offender control and offender assistance (Hanser, 2017). Although many of them were not properly fully trained or received higher education, they are known to be quite experienced. Punitive officers have the strong need to discipline the offenders by punishing and threatening them (Hanser, 2017). They tend to be strong law enforcers that mainly concern about the public’s safety and often get suspicious of the offenders they are supervising. Welfare workers are those that emphasize their role as reformers and treat the offenders in their caseloads like clients. They believe that being a consultant and directing these offenders with the right guidance can ultimately increase the safety of the community. Passive agents are those that do not care about the results of their work and only see their job as a job (Hanser, 2017). Individuals who have this approach tend to be in the job for their own benefit. Although there are a few different ways for probation officers to operate, they

By coming into contact with the offender’s family, friends, employer, and therapist, probation officers can keep in check the offender’s progress. Though these can be the basic tasks of a probation officers, there are times where the offender may require special treatment. Special needs of these offenders could include mental illnesses or substance abuse. According to the study conducted by Steven Belenko, Ingrid D. Johnson, Faye S. Taxman, & Traci Rieckmann (2018), “the most recent national survey of probationers, conducted in 1995, found that 24% of probationers had a history of alcohol abuse or dependence and 69% had a history of illicit drug use” (pg.314). After looking through different research and studies, they saw how those in probation tend to use drugs more than individuals within the community (Belenko et al, 2018). In hindsight, probation agencies are expected to be ensuring that these offenders are being treated in some way. However, it was found that many agencies tend to not utilize substance use treatment tools often and that the treatments they do use, drug intervention, are not as intensive or effective (Belenko et al, 2018). The study of Belenko et al. (2018) cited that “Probation supervision that included treatment reduced recidivism by 10%, and probation supervision that used the