Probation And Parole Assignment 645g

Probation can refers as a punishment; a convicted offender is placed and maintained in the community under the supervision of duly authorized agent of the court. Probation can also refer to an organization; the probation department manages, supervises and treats the offenders and carries out the investigations for court. According to Homer S. Cunnings; "Probation" is a method of discipline and treatment. If probationers are carefully chosen and the supervisory work is performed with intelligence and understanding, we can work miracles in rehabilitations. According to Reinmen, "Probation is a methods of treating the offenders by releasing them on good behavior upon conditions prescribed by court and under guidance of probation officer." A compact definition of Probation can be stated as “Probation is a method of treating (correcting) suitably selected offender by releasing him into the community upon certain conditions prescribed by the court on conviction, before sentencing (offender) generally upon supervision of Probation Officer1 The philosophy of probation is one which believes that the average offenders are not actually dangerous criminals. Advocates of probation suggest that when offenders are institutionalized instead of being granted community release. Probation involves (a) the withholding of imprisonment of the convicted offender, (b) conditional release, (c) permission to live in the community and (d) supervision of an agent of the court. Probation is the sentence in which the offender rather than being incarcerated is retained in the community under the supervision of a probation agency and required to abide by certain rules and conditions to avoid incarceration. Background of Probation: Probation as a method of correctional service evolved after the criminologists and legal jurists thought of means of reformation to criminals by giving them a chance to prove “their worth” and not confine them to the prison bars. The word “probation” is derived from the Latin word “probatus” meaning “tested” or “proved”. The first Probation officer in this world is said to be JOHN AUGUSTUS, a Boston Cobbler who is regarded as the “Father of Probation” who in 1841 volunteered to assist offenders if the court would release them to his care. As John Augustus was a cobbler operating in and around the courts of Boston, he daily used to watch the court proceedings of the criminals and used to wonder on the alternative methods available for the rectification of criminals other than imprisonment, a method enabling the criminals to rectify their mistakes and lead a normal societal life far away from the dark side of criminal world. John Augustus also had the selfbelief that young culprits convicted of criminal offence if sentenced to prison would make them more strong hard and fast criminals by mixing with other old criminals. Thus the entire life of these culprits would be ruined if they are made to stay in jails without giving them a chance to reform themselves or rectify their mistakes. This thinking led John Augustus to formulate the concept of Probation who later in 1841 appealed to the court to voluntarily assist the offenders and lead them to correctional methods if the court would release them to his care.

1

Rajan, V.N.,1995, Victimology in India, 1st edn., Ashish Publishing House, New Delhi,p-14

There are five types of probation:  Straight probation – offenders sentenced only for the probation.  Suspended sentence probation – judge pronounced for the jail or prison but the sentences are suspended for the well behavior of the offenders.  Split sentence – single sentence divided relatively short term jail and probation ( sentence for 5 years but 6 month in jail)  Shock probation – offender initially send to prison but after few days recall to court and placed on probation.  Residential probation – structured probation but open and living environment. The offender may be released on probation after the suspension of his sentence on the following two considerations, namely: 1) His case may be considered as really hopeful when judicial leniency is expedient. 2) Probation may be intended to serve a positive role as method of guidance; assistance and supervision of the probationer so that he may rehabilitate himself for the normal social life. As with the probation, the utilitarian aims of treatment and incapacitation have been the paramount goals of probation Process and procedure in probation: Probation can be viewed as a process with an identifiable beginning and end. The process consist three basic stages:  Placement of an offender on the probation.  Supervision and service delivery for the probationer.  Termination of the probation. The Probation of Offenders Act, 1958 1. Release after onition 2. Release on entering a bond on probation of good conduct with or without supervision. 3. Persons under 21 years of age are not to be sentenced to imprisonment unless the court calls for a report from the probation officer. 4. The person released on probation does not suffer a disqualification attached to a conviction under any other law. Duties of Probation officers: Staff officers in probation departments are usually charged with four primary tasks:  Investigation,  Intake,  Diagnosis and  Treatment Supervision.

Function of a probation officer: Probation officers are the individuals that supervise offenders who have been sentenced to non custodial sanctions or those released from incarceration. The main purpose of the

probation officer appointed by the court is to help the offender in reforming his character and rehabilitating him in the society. David Dressler mentioned four types of techniques in his book 'Practice and Theory of Probation and Parole'2 These are: Material aid techniques If the probation officer thinks that the offender needs the financial help to return to the normal life and to lead an honest life; he can recommended for financial aid. For example, if any jobless labor is under the probation system the probation officer can help to get a job in any mill or establishment if it helps him to lead a normal life and reform his character. Executive techniques The offender can be sent to any organization or person or agency of the society who are related with the system and can help the offender by giving him specific aid, by the probation officer. For example the offender can be sent to any legal organizer. Guidance techniques The probation officer can help the rehabilitating system of the offender by giving him different types of advice directly or indirectly. Counseling techniques The probation officer can help the rehabilitating system of the offender by giving him different types of advice directly or indirectly.

Parent Management Training: This scheme attempts to influence child behavior by teaching the parents’ of better parenting strategies. Parents’ of the children with behavioral problems tends to be inconsistent and punitive in establishing and enforcing rules, which often causes children to use loathing behavior such as droning to manipulate their environment. Parent management training offers the parents’ individual or group training at a school or clinic where they learn how to: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

Communicate clear expectations about behavior to their children. Identify positive and negative behaviors. Recognize antecedents of problematic behaviors. Provide positive consequences for positive behavior. Impose non coercive negative consequences for inappropriate and noncompliant behavior.

Parents are given home works, assignments etc. to practice the skills they are acquiring in the class and they receives from the therapists. Parent management training programs also promotes positive, shared family experiences by “prescribing” t parent-child playtime or shared family recreational activities.

Parole 2

Dressler, David: Practice and Theory of Probation, 1959, p, 167

Parole is the other name of “Conditional Early Release” from Prison or Jail under supervision, after serving a portion of the sentence that was sanctioned for the offender. This practice presupposes that the offender has successfully demonstrated conformity to the rules and regulations of the prison environment and has shown an ability to conform to society’s norms and laws. The facts that parole involves some incarceration suggestion that the average parolee has committed a more serious crime than the average probationers and hence, poses a greater risk to the community. According to Southerland and Cressey, "Parole is the act of releasing or the status of being released from a penal or reformatory institution in which one has served a part of his maximum sentence, on conditions of maintaining good behavior and remaining in the custody and under the guidance of the institution or some other agency approved by the State until a final discharge is granted".3 The word parole in French means “word,” and its use in connection with the release of prisoners was derived from the idea that they were released on their word of honors. The practice of allowing prisoners to be released from prison before serving the sentence of imprisonment pronounced by the court goes back at least to 18th-century England. At that time almost all serious crimes (felonies) were punishable with death, but only a small proportion of those who were convicted of felonies were actually executed. The majority of those who were sentenced to death were pardoned by thinking, but their pardon was granted on the condition that they consent to be transported to one of the colonies where labor was required—during the 17th and 18th centuries this was America and, following American independence, Australia. Eventually the courts were given power to pronounce sentences of transportation themselves, usually for a period specified in the sentence, but most sentences of transportation were modified by executive action. In particular, there developed the system of “ticket of leave,” under which a convict detained under a sentence of transportation was allowed a measure of freedom, or the right to return to England, in return for good behavior. When the sentence of transportation was abolished in the mid-19th century, the sentence that replaced it in English law, penal servitude, incorporated the same procedure under a different name, release on license. The prisoner sentenced to penal servitude could earn his release from the penitentiary, but not from the shadow of the sentence, by his good behavior in custody. As long as there have been prisons, societies have struggled with how best to help prisoners reintegrate in society when they are released. In the United States, prisoners who have not maxed out are released to parole supervision. Whether they are released through a discretionary or mandatory process, the majority of released prisoners will be subject to some sort of post-prison or parole supervision. Parole is the responsibility of the executive branch of government. In most states, it is istered by a board or commission appointed by the governor. Characteristics of the Parole System: a) A conditional release from the prison after serving a specific portion of sentence b) Imposition of certain conditions for behavior c) Remaining under the control of the officials of prison/correctional institution or supervision by a parole or a police officer 3

Southerland & Cressey: Principles of Criminology

d) Returning to prison after completing the parole term. Objective of Parole System: 1) To make the prison inmates eligible for maintaining the continuity with his family life and to deal with family affairs. 2) To save the inmates form the communal effects of continuous prison life. 3) To make the inmates eligible for the hang on to self-confidence and activating the interest in life of them. Parole agents (or officers) are responsible for ensuring that parolees fulfill the of their contracts. Most agents have the legal authority to carry and use firearms and to search places, persons, and property without a warrant and without probable cause (otherwise required by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution). The search power applies to the household where a parolee is living and the business place where a parolee is working. The ability to arrest, confine, and, in some cases re-imprison a parolee for violating the conditions of the parole agreement gives parole agents a great deal of discretionary authority. Parole conditions can be roughly classified as general, applicable to all parolees, and tailored, applicable to particular offenders. Standard parole conditions are similar throughout most jurisdictions and usually include not committing crimes, not carrying a weapon, seeking and maintaining employment, reporting changes of address, reporting to one’s parole agent, and paying required victim and court restitution costs.

Condition o Parole : Parole is a conditional liberation the conditions are sometimes fixed by law; sometimes by parole board and sometimes by any other agency appointed for the purpose. Following are conditions which may be included in those conditions laid down by the authority concerned.           

Leading law abiding life. Abstaining from intoxicating liquor and drugs. Keeping free from bad associates. Spending evening at home. Refraining from gambling and other vicious habits. ing legal dependents. Remaining in specific territory. Not changing residence or employment without permission. Not marrying without permission. Not becoming dependent on charity. Making written of personal reports as required etc.

Release mechanisms 3 ways out --

Discretionary release- release of inmate (to conditional supervision) at the discretion of the parole board, within boundaries of sentence & law; inmate is subject. Mandatory release- required release of an inmate (to conditional supervision) at the expiration of a certain time period, as determined by law or parole guidelines. Expiration release- release of an offender from custody (no additional supervision); offender may not be returned to prison for any part of sentence. applies in cases of commutation, pardon, or end of sentence.

Purpose of Parole: For individual offenders, the major functions of imprisonment are retribution, removing dangerous people from the community, rehabilitation, and specific deterrence of future offending after release. The goals of parole supervision are similar and can be broadly conceived as “service” and “surveillance”: the rehabilitation of releases and facilitation of their reentry in a community and the deterrence of crime and crime-related behaviors. In this framework, parole then serves as a sorting function by identifying releases who fail quickly and returning them to prison in order to protect communities and by making services available to those who might most benefit from them. Successful reintegration of offenders protects the communities in which they reside. Thus, the purposes of parole supervision are more utilitarian, integrative, and rehabilitative than the purposes of incarceration; retribution recedes into the background. Police and Parole Supervision: Parole officers and local police agencies have long had close informal working relationships. In some jurisdictions the police are routinely notified when a person is released on parole in their area. Many parole officers regularly scan the arrest logs of police departments to see if parolees on their caseloads were picked up. Historically, this task was simply defined as doing the job. More recently, more formalized partnerships between parole and probation agencies and police departments have sometimes been set up. As a retired chief probation officer noted (Burrell, 2005, p. 596): “Ironically, line officers have been collaborating for years—with police officers, drug counselors, teachers, psychologists, employment specialists and others—who were also involved with their clients. The critical difference today is that these partnerships are forged at a higher level and are more formal”. The Urban Institute recently published an excellent report summarizing several ongoing law enforcement programs designed to positively affect prisoner reentry (La Vigne et al., 2006). While parole officers in some agencies may arrest individuals, particularly for noncriminal violations of specific parole conditions, other officers may elect to have sworn police officers make such arrests, and some agencies require it. Federal probation and parole officers are, by policy, directed not to execute warrants.

Conclusion:

However, our correctional program faces various problems so the effectiveness of this program is so much low. If our governments can overcome these problems then this population who serves punishment in the prisons the can be the population organization for our country and they can play a great role for our development programs. Institution cans not lonely making correction to the offender so each person of the society will be advanced in making correction of the offenders. The negatives attitudes will be removed to the offenders. After releasing from the jail we have give them some works on which matter he is able to do and we have to help them to preventing the stress.

References Ahuja Ram (1996); “Sociological Criminology”(India: New age International publications Limited). Bohm Robert M. and Haley Keith N.: Introduction to Criminal Justice (fourth edition). Chakrabarti, Nirmal Kanti,1999, Probation Services in the istration of Criminal Justice, 1st edn., Deep & Deep Publication Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi,p-126. Dressler, David: Practice and Theory of Probation, 1959, p, 167. Kashem Bin (1996); “The International Journal” Paranjapee, N.V. Criminology and Penology, Twelfth Edition. India: Central Law Publications. 2005. Probation and Parole." In The Handbook of Crime and Punishment. Edited by M. Tonry. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Rajan, V.N.,1995, Victimology in India, 1st Edition, Ashish Publishing House, New Delhi,p14.