New probation essay (3)

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Jan 9, 2024

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(Section 1: Defining Probation and It’s Conditions) Probation is one of the complex systems in Canadian corrections, but it is also necessary. It requires effort from the probation officers and other correction staff involved to help accused individuals reduce the rate of going back to criminal activity. In a sense, it holds the offenders accountable for their actions whilst providing them a chance to create a new life. Weinrath (n.d.) reiterated that the purpose of probation is rehabilitative and not punishment. According to Griffits & Murdoch (2018). Probation is a “sentence impose on an offender by a criminal court judge that provides for the supervision of the offender in the community by a probation officer, either as an alternative to custody or in conjunction with a period of incarceration.” From this definition, there are key components of probation – namely, having an officer supervise the offender, it is an alternative to other sentencing options, and is administered by the court. Weinrath (n.d.), courts may administer probation in the form of a conditional discharge, suspended sentence, or split sentence for up to three years with either standard or optional conditions. (Section 2: Historical Development of Probation Historical Development) The history of Canadian probation goes back to 1889 when conditional release was first applied to offender that have no prison convictions. They are to exhibit appropriate behavior until approved for release. It was only in 1892 that probation was mentioned in the Canadian Criminal Code. In 1921, the Code was amended to include breach proceedings, sentencing options and reparations (Hamai, 1995). These would later become the types of probation that we know today. In 1956, the Royal commission recommended an extension of scope of probation. According to the chapter written by Weinrath (n.d.), probation started out as focused on youth, and soon became more accommodating to adult offenders. Probation continued to be improved and elaborated. By 1967, improvement on the eligibility of the offenders, the offenses that can be fixed under probation, the processes, and the sanctions were finalized. The laws of probation that we know today was implemented in 1970. There were two bills that were passed to make further improvements on probation. Further information from Hamai (1995) said the first is Bill C-90, which was introduced in 1992 but was not passed as a law. The Bill C-41, on the other hand, was introduced in 1994 and sets out the purpose and principles of Sentencing. Compared to other sentencing orders, probation is often confused with parole and conditional sentencing; However, the most common confusion is that with Parole. The basic difference between probation is that the former is administered by a national or provincial parole board while the former is
administered by court (Weinrath, n.d.). While probation has a maximum of three years, parole continues until the end of the sentence. Both has general and specific conditions, and breach of these conditions in parole may result in revocation, suspension, or return to custody. When it comes to probation, breach of conditions results to charges under the Criminal Code with evidence of the breach. However, offenders are rarely incarcerated due to this. (Section 3: Types of Probation Sanctions in Canada) As such, there are many types of probation that the court may administer, based on their judgement of what the offender needs. There are 4 main probation categories and types. The first category is traditional probation, which encompass regular probation and conditional discharge. The regular probation is the standard practice among the types. It is imposed by a criminal court judge and is available only for territorial or provincial offenders; However, federal offenders can still get probation if their sentences total to two years. That is why it may be used in conjunction with the territorial or provincial offenders’ confinement period and after the federal offender’s two years has elapsed. It has a maximum length of 3 years. When an offender is sentenced with a conditional discharge, they are released but required to fulfill a probation period. Compared to regular probation, conditional discharge is shorter and can span for 12 to 24 months for a first time offender (Izadi, 2021). This is akin to the absolute discharge, except the offender must prove his/her good conduct through abiding in the conditions of the probation. The second category, enhance corrections, is comprised of conditional sentence and split sentence. Conditional sentence is also called house arrest, wherein the offender will serve his/her sentence not in prison, but in their homes. Healy (2002) says that this recognized to be in between incarceration and probation. Conditional sentences, according to Weinrath (n.d.) was used to put lower risk offenders into custody. These offenders are those who do not pose a risk to the public. Compared to regular probation, it has more measures such as home confinement and work services. A split sentence, according to Smiley (1978) involves sentencing the offender, suspending the sentence, and using the remaining sentence time for probation. The goal of this program was to incorporate both the advantages of probation and incarceration into the offender. Intensive Supervision Probation (ISP), Electronic Monitoring, and Drug treatment courts fall under the supervise probation category. ISP has heightened surveillance, involving frequent contact with probation officers
and electric monitoring. There are other measures implemented such curfews, monitoring via telephone, and urinalysis (Weinrath et al., 2015). However, Weinrath (n.d.) says that there are not enough studies to support its efficacy, but there are speculations that it may help in lessening the burden of prisons when targeted towards serious offenses given if it will implement stronger treatment. Electronic Monitoring uses technology to properly monitor a person in house arrest. This can be in the form of using cameras and wearable devices to track the offender’s location. Not only does this take advantage of the present technology, it also becomes an efficient and less costly program that both the offender and the probation officer can adapt to. (Bonta et al., 2022). Drug treatment courts or DTCs, as the name suggest, specializes in cases where the offender suffers from substance abuse. The court is also active in creating a treatment program for the offender and to track his/her progress throughout the program (Government of Canada, 2023). Often, attending these community-based treatments will also serve as their probation. The objective of DTCs is to address substance abuse by treating those who are suffering from it and preventing other cases from happening. Lastly, community supervision requires probation officers to watch over the offenders. This may interlap in other categories such as conditional sentencing, and would require the cooperation of offender and the officer. Community supervision needs to be a balance between treatment and enforcement. The officer must ensure that the offender complies to the conditions and attends the treatment sessions as well. They must also closely monitor the offender’s peers and thinking patterns, as this will indicate whether the offender will likely re-offend or not. (Section 4: Trends in Probation Usage) According to Reid & Cole (2023), probation in the past 30 years have declined. The proponents analyzed this by looking at the volume of court cases and the proportion of those sentenced guilty.
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 Probation rates per 100,000 adults Year Probation rate This is supported by data from Statistics Canada , showing that there is a downward trend in the use of Probation as the years progress. There are a few factors that can be attributed to it. First, the crime rate is also decreasing, therefore the decrease in probation issuances might be directly proportional to the crime rate. It was also determined that judges often include probation as sentencing dispositions. This means that there are instances when probation becomes an option aside from sentencing, but it does not encompass the system. There may be other processes more appropriate than probation, such as parole, that can be imposed for the offender. Therefore, the cases requiring probation may also be attributed to its decline. Finally, there have been no recent significant changes in the probation system, particularly new sanctions. It has remained the same since these sanctions were placed. Improvements are important because it keeps the system updated with the offender’s assessment and other criminogenic needs. Since none of these updated improvements are made, probation is further seen as an option, therefore the decline in its use. (Section 5: Enforcement of Probation) Probation is enforced through a process. It starts when it is imposed by a criminal court judge. The probation officers prepare a pre-sentence report, containing information about the offender and assessing what type of interventions needed. This also includes a level of investigation as well. Surveillance and enforcement are then carried out, which may include home visits, preparing reports, and counselling. During this period, the accused is required to show good behavior and comply with the conditions entailed. Assessments will be done as well to assess the likelihood of the offender to
have a successful intervention. They also coordinate with other services to provide more of the offenders’ needs. (Section 6: What probation entails As mentioned, courts impose conditions that the offender should comply in order. The Alberta court of Canada (2015), some of these standard conditions are appearing before a court, keeping peace and good behavior, and notifying the probation officer or the court in advance if there are any changes in occupation, name, address, and employment. Additionally, there may be other conditions imposed based on the offense or the circumstances of the offender. Some of these specialized conditions include abstinence from alcohol or drugs, attending counselling and treatment, restitution or compensation, community service, curfews, providing samples to confirm alcohol or drug use, restricted use of internet and motor vehicles, house arrest, designating a specific place of residence, or restricted or no contact with certain people. Under legal obligation, the offender must, at all times, comply with the conditions of the probation. The probation officers must also ensure that offender meets the conditions. In the case of breach of conditions, the officer should review the case and file a violation report. According to the Alberta court (2015), if there is no reasonable excuse for the breach of conditions, the offender is guilty of the offense under the Criminal Code of Canada, s. 733.1(1). The court can either revoke the probation order, impose a sentence, or change the specialized conditions. Because of the responsibilities that officers have, the job usually takes a toll into their personal lives. Using the Probation Personal Impact Scale (PPI), Lewis et al., (2013) determined that probation officers – especially those who have caseloads on sexual and violent recidivism, threats, offender suicide, and assaults – experience traumatic stress and burnout. The researchers suggested that education, training, and assessments should help mitigate those traumatic experiences. Therefore, for probation officers, this entails a lot of sacrifices as well. Despite mentioning the offender and the officer most, it is a central point that probation is a community effort. It is not just the offender and the officer involves. The family and friends of the offender, community services, and other sectors need to work together in order to come up with a proper treatment. This was pointed out in a study by Haqanee et al. (2015) on the importance of criminogenic needs. Addressing the offenders’ criminogenic needs – such as positive parental involvement and right treatment processes – help greatly in leading them toward the right path.
(Section 7: Roles of Probation officers) Among the facets of this system, the probation officers are one of the important. Probation officers have a multitude of roles that play into the well- being of the offender. Primarily, they assess clients including their needs and the risk they pose. Based on this information, they craft an individualized case managements system and program to help guide the offender. They then act on this management system and supervise the offenders. According to Griffiths & Murdoch (2018), probation officers have dual roles: they provide assistance and support and at the same time, they enforce the conditions that the probation orders. Probation officers follow a fixed process when it comes to assessing an offender. The first one involves classifying and assessing the offender. The officer identifies the needs of the offender, which will help them live a more stable and law-abiding lives and reduce the risk of offending again (Weinrath, n.d.). Their cultures and environment are taken into account in this step. The officer then makes a pre-sentence report for the sentencing judge based on the assessment done prior. This includes the background information of the offender, socio-biographical information, history, risk assessments, and victim impact. After that, the supervision function comes into play. The officer conducts initial interviews, individual supervision, motivational interviewing, group counselling, and other programs which may help the offender (Griffiths & Murdoch, 2018). Afterwards, the officer creates a case management plan to help reduce the offender’s risk of reoffending. This may include setting topics for counselling sessions, assigning programs referrals for specific problems such as anger management classes, community work or service, contact with the offender’s family and friends, and greater supervision (Weinrath, n.d.). This is the standard process followed the probation officers.
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