Probation Officers Research Articles

Pull and Push: The Effect of Social Support and Professional Resilience on the Relationship Between Correctional Officers' Cynicism and Service Impact.

This research examines the protective influences of social support and professional resilience to probation officers' cynicism and service impact simultaneously. Data on psychological characteristics of a sample of 382 forensic social workers in Chinese legal systems were collected. Confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and multiple-group analyses were used in a three-step analysis process to test our research model. Results identified that cynicism was negatively associated with probation officers' service impact, ascertained that social support functioned as an extrinsic pull mediating the relationship between probation officers' cynicism and service impact, and determined that professional resilience served as an intrinsic push moderating the impact of cynicism and social support on service impact, respectively. This research proposed a push and pull mechanism by which probation officers' service impact is increased and their work pressure is alleviated, providing tentative recommendations for the alleviation of probation officers' job pressure and improvement of their service impact.

Religious and Patriarchal Beliefs that Influence Christian Women to Persevere in Abusive Relationships: With Reference to Giriama People, Kenya

This article examines how cultural beliefs and patriarchal practices during the early period of the spread of Christianity promoted intimate partner violence (IPV) against women in the church. The article begins by exploring some cultural and patriarchal beliefs that were practised by the Jews and Giriama people during the pre-evangelistic period that promoted IPV against women through religious and cultural practices to see violence as normal, thus choosing to persevere in violent relationships. New strategies for preventing IPV against women have been discussed. In this descriptive research, data were collected from 52 informants using questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The study interviewed 30 women facing IPV individually. Abused women provided information in focus group discussions. Ten pastors were sampled in order to gather data on how cultural and patriarchal practices with the support of biased biblical interpretation of texts, promoted IPV against Christian women. Twelve questionnaires were administered to six gender officers, three probation officers and three social workers, and the findings were used to supplement data collected from the key informants. This study established that some Bible texts are interpreted and used by wife abusers and pastors offering counselling to the IPV victims to promote and justify IPV. It, therefore, recommended that the church should organise to re-read and re-learn these Bible texts with a view to interpreting them without being biased against women. The church should also re-examine all patriarchal passages in the Bible with a view to facilitating contextual and reasoned scrutiny of the male-controlled beliefs and practices that promote IPV against women. The article established that cultural beliefs and patriarchal practices promote IPV against women. Some pastors and wife abusers interpret some Bible verses to justify spousal abuse; however, if the problem of IPV is to be prevented, the church, the government, and other stakeholders involved in a war against IPV on women must embrace new strategies that are free from cultural and patriarchal beliefs and practices.

Therapeutic Approaches to Remorse in Sentencing Recommendations: A Qualitative Study of Probation Officers

Stemming from interviews with 151 probation officers in the United States, this study produces a qualitative model that illuminates the extent to and ways in which probation officers draw from principles of Therapeutic Jurisprudence to consider remorse as evidence of a client’s potential for rehabilitation (remorse shows “therapeutic guilt” through which an individual being sentenced acknowledges wrongdoings, takes responsibility, and shows behavioral changes) and reconciliation (remorse is a device for “rebalancing power” by shifting responsibility for bad acts away from victims and community, as well as allows the individual being sentenced to seek and receive forgiveness via apologies and “payback”) during sentencing. Correspondingly, the model further suggests how these officers use their therapeutic views of remorse to inform their presentencing recommendations for sentencing plans that prioritize community reintegration. Finally, this article discusses the model’s implications and the potential adoption of Therapeutic Jurisprudence approaches in sentencing.

The role of the specialist mental health probation officer

Individuals on probation have a high prevalence of health problems when compared to the general population. For them it is often difficult to access health treatment. Thus, improvement of mental health and access to mental health services could increasingly become a role of the probation officer. In Europe, there is less data about the use of specialty mental health probation (SMHP) than in the United States (US). In a survey for the Council of Europe, Brooker and Monteira (2021) summarized the practices of probation services and prisons among European countries. The authors alluded to useful initiatives in German states. One example is Baden-Wurttemberg, where some probation officers are trained to be mental health specialists ( Brooker and Monteira 2021 : 16). The main difference between the SMHP model in the US and the model in Baden-Wurttemberg is that the specialist in mental health in Baden-Wurttemberg does not necessarily care exclusively for individuals with mental illnesses, but rather serves as a source of expert knowledge to colleagues and assists with case consultations. Thus, the probation officer does not focus exclusively on one topic (mental health) and can take a holistic view of each individual case.

Social Clinics and Analytic Boundaries

In this reflection the author makes connections between the themes of the special issue and an early series of seminars held at the Freud Museum London, in 1992, ‘Psychotherapy Black and White’, organized in cooperation with the intercultural therapy centre Nafsiyat. These seminars were invested in the social mission of psychoanalysis, and were intended not only for psychotherapists but for social workers, counsellors, psychiatrists, probation officers, community health workers, teachers and others. The author reflects on psychotherapy as an ecosystem and on the issue of the ‘boundaries’ of psychoanalysis: when they are excessively policed, this limits the domain of psychoanalytic knowledge, including by undermining the legitimacy of social clinics.

Community MH Must Include Care for Incarcerated Individuals, Released Prisoners

Community MH Must Include Care for Incarcerated Individuals, Released Prisoners

Corrections (Pemasyarakatan) after Law Number 22 of 2022: New Principles and Policy Identification Regarding the Functions of Probation and Parole Offices

The enactment of Law Number 22 of 2022 concerning Corrections (Pemasyarakatan), which replaces the previous Law Number 12 of 1995, significantly changes the implementation of Correctional functions, mainly the functions carried out by Probation and Parole Offices. If in the 1995 Law Corrections is only referred to as the final part of the Criminal Justice System, the new Law emphasizes the position of Corrections which are more integrated with the entire criminal justice process, so that Correctional functions are carried out at the pre-adjudication, adjudication, and post-adjudication stages. This amendment to the law is also interesting to be studied conceptually, especially to find out what principles are contained in it that form the basis for implementing the functions of Corrections. In line with this, it is also essential to identify what kind of policy changes should be carried out regarding the functions of Probation and Parole Offices in the future with the existence of new principles and differences of provisions in terms of the implementation of corrections functions. By using conceptual analysis methods, particularly policy detection analysis, which is technically carried out in two stages; first, the analysis stage of the content of the law and second, the theoretical coherence analysis stage, this paper comes to two conclusions. First, this paper finds an affirmation of new principles in Law Number 22 of 2022, namely the principle of restorative reintegration, the principle of evidence-based treatments, the principle of individualization, the principle of continuity, and the principle of collaboration. Second, this paper identifies 5 (five) policy changes that need to be made regarding the function of the Probation and Parole Office according to those principles. The policies that must be implemented can be divided into three groups—first, the need for further operationalization of the restorative reintegration concept described by this law. Second, the need for reformulation of various instruments needed in implementing functions, especially social inquiry reports. Third, the need for facilitative strengthening, especially the quantity and quality of probation and parole officers and other facilitative supports.

Psychological Services to support probation in Northern Ireland and Malta

Two Probation Services, the Probation Board for N. Ireland and the Department of Probation and Parole in Malta, that directly employ Psychologists, have come together to write this article, describing how psychological services have been developed over the years to support and add value to the work of Probation services. This article will describe the development of the two services, the psychological assessments and the interventions they deliver, that enhance the work carried out by probation officers. The benefits of this specialist role within the wider justice system will also be considered. The authors will highlight key principles of good practice and the learning for probation services for the future.

보호관찰 청소년 통합 재범위험성 평가도구 개발에 관한 연구

The current study attempts to investigate the predictive validities of the risk assessment tools that are currently being used in juvenile probation and parole in Korea. Since 2016, MOJ(Ministry of Justice) has used the JDRAI-S and JDRAI-D for a different purpose; JDRAI-S has been in use for the purpose of risk classification of juvenile delinquents while JDRAI-D has been utilized for case planning of juvenile probationers and parolees. With the two risk assessment tools being rolled out, concerns have been expressed over the predictive validity of the tools among the practitioners. More importantly, Probation officers have expressed the need to integrate the two different tools into a single, integrated risk assessment tool. Against this backdrop, the current study examines the predictive validities of JDRAI-S and JDRAI-D, and also investigates the possibility that a new tool could be constructed and demonstrate a good level of predictive validity. The results of the current study show that the two current risk assessment tools fail to demonstrate adequate levels of predictive validity. A series of ROC analyses showed that JDRAI-S has the value of AUC .64 and JDRAI-D has the value of AUC .61. Specially the predictive validity of JDRAI-D has posed a serious concern, because many items included in JDRAI-D have been shown not to be associated with recidivism. The second part of the study shows promising results. The newly constructed risk assessment tool, named as JDRAI-Ⅱ, demonstrates a very good level of predictive validity with the value of AUC .73. In addition, the sub factors of JDRAI-Ⅱ also show a good level of consistency and validity. At the end of the study, the authors provide some useful tips for future research and practices.

‘Pushed from above and pushed from below’: Emotional labour and dual identities amongst senior probation officers in England and Wales

Senior Probation Officer’s (SPOs) in England and Wales work at the ‘front and centre’ of the organisation’s hierarchy. They act as both manager and developer of frontline probation practitioners. Previous research has focused on the emotional labour undertaken by probation practitioners yet there is very little research on the emotional labour of SPOs, even though they must be skilful emotion managers of their own emotions and those they supervise. Using data gathered from interviews with 28 SPOs and managers across England and Wales, we analyse how SPOs’ emotions are ‘controlled’ by senior management, and how SPOs ‘control’ the emotions of frontline workers they supervise. SPOs attempts at managing emotions are resisted by their supervisees, and SPOs resist the emotional displays they are expected to present in their work role. We conclude by considering the impact of emotional labour on SPOs and how best to support them in their role.

Sexual Offense Disclosure Assessment in Youth Referred to Community Treatment: A Latent Class Analysis.

This study seeks to extend research evaluating tools to assess the disclosure of sexually abusive behavior. The subjects were 239 male youth (ages 10-20years) who were court-ordered to participate in a community-based collaborative intervention for sexual offending that includes outpatient and probationary services. All youth participated in an interview to capture referral incident details about admission, responsibility, empathy, and remorse at intake, during intervention, and at discharge. Intake, treatment, discharge, and recidivism measures were also collected from multiple sources. Latent class analysis identified three classes based on the intake interview: Empathetic Admitters (22%), Unempathetic Admitters (38%), and Unempathetic Deniers (40%). Significant class differences were found on intake (e.g., use of physical force, caregiver denial of youth responsibility), treatment (e.g., any sanctions/violations), and discharge measures (e.g., successful treatment, probation officer ratings), but not in recidivism rates. The findings extend efforts to identify and target different disclosure patterns whose clinical monitoring may support a comprehensive intervention.

A Rapid Review of Literature on Factors Associated with Adult Probation Revocations

ABSTRACT Criminal justice stakeholders have increasingly relied on probation supervision as an alternative to incarceration and yet, probation revocations often result in incarceration. As such, increased understanding of the mechanisms behind revocations and strategies to reduce them is critical. We conduct a rapid review of the literature on factors associated with probation revocations. Specifically, we review 50 articles on how probation officer behavior, officer-client relationships, caseload size, supervision intensity, monetary sanctions, probation client characteristics, or programming and services are associated with probation revocations. Though the literature is limited, and findings are mixed, the most consistent findings indicate that officer-client relationships involving trust, support, respect, and empathy as well as reduced caseload sizes and cognitive behavioral therapy programs are associated with probation success while intensive supervision programs; greater monetary sanctions and nonpayment of those sanctions; and being Black and less educated are associated with poorer supervision outcomes. Implications for future research, policy, and practice are discussed.

Exploring the black box of French community supervision

This article explores how probation officers (POs) in France employ evidence-based practice in the real world. Using 78 audio tapes of 11 POs and 33 offenders in 2 probations services, we assessed PO skills with an adapted version of the Jersey Checklist. Our results suggest that French probation officers generally possess good communication skills, and use – to a certain extent – core correctional practices. They do, however, underperform with regard to cognitive behavioural techniques.

Stigmatising attitudes of probation, parole and custodial officers towards people with mental health issues: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis

Stigmatising attitudes of probation, parole and custodial officers towards people with mental health issues: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis

Who Should Go Home From Detention? The Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Probation Officers’ Recommendations to the Court

Racial and ethnic disparities permeate juvenile justice outcomes. Yet, little is known about the decision-making processes that inform these outcomes, including the often-hidden recommendations probation officers make to the court regarding youth confinement. Using data from a juvenile court in a southwest city, we examine how mental health concerns, alleged gang affiliation, family challenges, and perceived dangerousness inform probation officers’ recommendations to the court and how these vary by youths’ race and ethnicity. We find that youth with these factors are more likely to be recommended for detention/commitment and residential treatment than be recommended for release to the home. Findings also show that the effect of these factors vary across youths’ race and ethnicity. The implications for policy and practice are discussed.

Schoolhouse rap

AbstractRap on Trial, the treatment of rap music as evidence in the American criminal legal process, is well-documented and increasingly scrutinised. Research has shown that – with little restraint – police, prosecutors, probation officers and judges use rap lyrics to investigate, prosecute and punish individuals. Less noticed is that a similar phenomenon is occurring in the American K–12 educational system, which disciplines school-age youth who participate in rap culture and sometimes refers them to the juvenile or criminal legal systems for additional punishment. This article describes and analyses a small set of identified cases of this scenario, demonstrating that rap music is used to funnel youth, including vulnerable Black and Brown youth, into what has been coined the school-to-prison pipeline and exposing the extreme dissonance between hip hop and the educational system.

Detainees' Perceptions of Procedural Justice: An Examination Throughout the Criminal Justice System.

Procedural justice literature proposes that when individuals perceive their treatment by criminal justice authorities as more procedurally just, they will be more likely to view those authorities as legitimate and, in turn, show more compliant behavior. Knowledge on potential determinants of procedural justice is, therefore, crucial. Research suggests that prior perceptions of procedural justice may influence later judgements of procedural justice. The current study used data from the Prison Project, including information on detainees' perceptions of their treatment by the police, the judge, the prison staff, the probation officer, and the lawyer. The findings show that detainees perceive the treatment by the lawyer as most procedurally just, while they evaluate the treatment by the police as least procedurally just. Further, how detainees experience the procedurally just treatment by the police is associated with how they feel treated by other authorities at a later stage in the criminal justice system.

Juvenile Probation Officers' Perceptions of Sanctions and Incentives as Compliance Strategies.

In juvenile probation, noncompliance with probation conditions is a common occurrence. To deal with this, juvenile probation officers (JPOs) may use different strategies, such as sanctions and incentives. This study uses survey and focus group data from 19 JPOs to evaluate their perceptions of the effectiveness of sanctions and incentives in reducing youth noncompliance, specifically in the form of substance use. Results show that there are two distinct groups of JPOs: those who believe sanctions are an effective deterrent strategy and those who do not. Perceptually and demographically these two groups contain significant differences. Notably, both groups have similar views of social incentives, but JPOs who believe sanctions are ineffective are significantly more likely to have positive views of tangible incentives. This study has implications for how the field of juvenile probation can target JPO perceptions to move toward incentive-based strategies rather than sanction-based strategies for reducing youth substance use.

Exploring Thailand’s Probationary Practices Since COVID-19: Changes in Strategies with Regards to Probation Supervision

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic had a critical impact on the Thai criminal justice system. The goal of this study is to explore policies and practices of Thailand’s Department of Probation as it responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study surveyed probation officers in Thailand (N = 534) from March to April 2021, focusing on probation practices and case management issues prior- and post- COVID-19. Data reveals that, overall, the frequency of officer-offender contacts remained steady even though the type of contact changed after COVID-19. In-person contact was replaced by remote contact strategies, specifically telephone calls, which increased significantly following the onset of the pandemic.

Rehabilitating homes and humans: probation, gender and domesticity in Britain, 1907–1960

ABSTRACT The concept of ‘home’ has been central to probation theory and practice in Britain ever since the 1907 Probation Act introduced probation as an alternative to fines and prison sentences. Rather than sending people to prison, the home was considered a more suitable environment for facilitating long-term reform and rehabilitation. However, the home had to live up to certain physical and psychological standards if this approach was to work. This article explores the ways in which probation officers’ efforts to reform probationers’ homes and behaviours within the domestic sphere impacted the everyday lives and gender relations of probationers and their families, and played a crucial role in promoting certain normative concepts of what a ‘good home’ and a ‘healthy’ domestic relationship should look like.