It is apparent that recently probation has abdicated its responsibility to solve problems in favor of a law enforcement approach. Since the 1960's, rehabilitation had become the focus in corrections with judges giving a second chance to first time offenders, juveniles, and others in need of help. The identification and treatment of self-defeating behaviors was the central responsibility of the probation officer. The increased numbers and mixed character of offenders led to a more conservative approach on the part of probation officers. As a result, the assumption that everyone could be rehabilitated was dropped in favor of the question of who to help and who to control. Although no less committed to helping than their predecessors, probation officers today have moved into a different field. The priority of preparation of presentence reports and other paperwork has eaten into precious supervision time. Time spent inputting data on computer systems could be put to more creative use. It is suggested that technicians be assigned to data input, allowing probation officers to help design information collection and retrieval systems designed for use in probation. The subjective assessments of recidivism and violent behavior should be left to the experienced probation officers and not to the computer. 4 footnotes.