The proposal for increasing the surveillance role of probation officers essentially makes them community-based prison officers. The attitude measurement indicated that prison officers were regarded less positively than probation officers, suggesting that the proposed change in the probation officer's function would reduce their public esteem. The use of probation volunteers to provide the caring functions for probationers assumes that the public would be willing to accept such a responsibility. Under all conditions studied, and particularly when envisaged at large in the community, subjects assigned offenders a highly negative stereotype, suggesting that the New Zealand public as a whole may be unwilling to become personally involved in offender care. Overall, the findings indicate that the withdrawal of the use of publicly funded probation officers as social workers at this time would lead to a deterioration rather than an improvement in the rehabilitation prospects of probationers. Tabular data and references are provided.