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Article Link 5.1: Durnescu, Ioan (2012). What matters most in probation supervision: Staff characteristics, staff skills or programme? Criminology & Criminal Justice, 12(2): 193-216.

This article explores what the existing literature has to say about what is most important in the probation supervision: staff characteristics, staff skills or programmes? In broader historical perspective, the story begins in a time when the probation officer was cast as ‘a man of God … full of the milk of human kindness’ (Jarvis, 1972: 8) and arrives in the present day when the probation officer looks like ‘homo technicus’; equipped to deliver sophisticated programmes. One important observation of this critical historical analysis is that although they were considered essential in the early days, the centrality of staff characteristics faded from view in the years after professionalization. At the same time staff skills and programmes came to be seen as more and crucial in probation supervision. A possible explanation of these developments is that the quest for professionalization increased the pressure on probation practice to gain public recognition, and that this was pursued through the imperative of objectification (Kaufmann, 1998 [1996]) which forces all sciences to use observable tools. Another explanation of the disappearance of probation characteristics in the literature could be that the current mainstream research methodologies are not fully capable of capturing the complexities of the human and social worlds in which supervision takes place. By using Cohen’s (1985) and Garland’s (2001) work, it also provided a possible framework for understanding this dynamic within a broader crime control perspective. At the end of the article the author suggests some ideas that could be explored in future research.

1. How have characteristics of probation officers evolved?
2. According to this article, how do characteristics impact a probation officer’s role?

Article Link 5.2: Siddique, Julie A. and Scott H. Belshaw (2015). Racial Disparity in Probationers’ Views about Probation. Race and Justice, 1-14.

The current study examined racial disparity in probationers’ views about probation services using survey data from 1,896 probationers in a large county in north Texas. Two multivariate logistic regression models predicting probationers’ views about the helpfulness of the probation department and optimism that their time on probation would help them stay out of trouble were estimated using racial identification and a number of controls as predictors. Racial identification was a significant predictor in both models even after controlling for probationers’ evaluations of probation administration and their relationships with their probation officers. Black probationers were significantly more likely to be dissatisfied with probation services, whereas Hispanic probationers were significantly more likely to be optimistic that their time on probation would help them stay out of trouble, as compared to White probationers. Results from mean tests did not indicate that probationers of different racial identifications differed significantly in their evaluations of probation administration or their relationships with probation officers. Racial disparity in probationers’ views, therefore, was less likely to be related to perceived differential treatment by the probation department and more likely to be related to other factors. Implications for future research are discussed. 

1. What does this article reveal about how probationers’ perspectives of probation vary across races?
2. Why is it important for probation agencies and officers to understand how probationers view probation?
3. What are the implications of this study for probation officers and training?