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Probation Service - Yes, But Change Is Needed - Thoughts on Further Criminal Justice Reform

NCJ Number
88788
Journal
Bewaehrungshilfe Volume: 28 Issue: 2 Dated: (1981) Pages: 156-162
Author(s)
J Goertz
Date Published
1981
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Disaffection with the efficacy of the probation service in West Germany is shared by the justice system, the public, and probation officers themselves. Some reorganization, redefinition of goals, and redistribution of responsibilities may be in order.
Abstract
Probation officers' principal grievances are their heavy workloads, an ill-defined role in relation to the justice system, and limitations on their autonomy. Others criticize the services' interference with justice procedures, expanding areas of operation and attendant bureaucratization, as well as the lack of readily visible rehabilitation success. One suggested reform is to return the focus of probation assistance back to its principal clientele -- released ex-offenders. Services to clients without criminal records should be provided by other agencies, e.g., the juvenile assistance service should deal with diverted juveniles and prevention programming for youth. Diversion efforts in general should not involve the probation service as most German alternatives to criminal justice processing have done. Probation work should be reorganized as teamwork involving volunteers (including ex-probationers) under the leadership of a professional social worker, and these teams should relieve judges of tracking each case through the completion of probation conditions. Furthermore, probation officer activity should be more oriented to the neighborhoods and families of their clients and thereby more in line with general prevention policies. Professional associations of probation officers have served to heighten their isolation from other social work professions; such organizations should be restructured to comprise the various splintered social work specialties. Seven footnotes are given.

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