Parole officers or probation officers observe and supervise prisoners after being released from prison. Probation officers mold back prisoners after their release from prison so that they can fit into the society. Probation officers provide skills and knowledge to the offenders to ensure that they can cope with the outside society once they are released. These officers work hand in hand with the justice system to ensure that the offenders are ready for the society. They act as agents of rehabilitation to the offenders by ensuring that the offenders stay away from wrong company and choices. As a result, they will be prevented from committing crime.
Probation officers ensure that they perform background checks on the offenders, that is, the probation officers gather detailed information concerning the lives of the offender assigned to them and present their findings to the court (Erdem et al., 2018). These background checks are beneficial in that they are used to make the decision whether the offender should be allowed back to the society. Through this, probation officers assist in the courtroom procedures or decisions concerning the offender
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Some of the ways in which probation officers can act as rehabilitation agents is by providing the offenders with avenues of rehabilitation like community service and giving back to the community. The probation officers may advise the offenders to take up services that will be beneficial to the offender in terms of gaining trust in the society and even ensuring personal growth of the offender whereby he or she can build up good morals and cope with the society.
Probation officers act as agents of law enforcement (Newstrom et al., 2018). First and foremost, probation officers act as supervisors to the offenders. This on its own is one of the ways they act as agents of law enforcements; they ensure that the rules and guidelines that are set up by the court are followed to the latter by the offender. The supervisor will ensure that the offender does not commit another offense. Through this supervision, the probation officer is able to report back to the court concerning the offender and how he is adapting into the society.
Probation officers act as broker or advocate agents and agency models. They act as broker agents by acting as a platform between the offender and the rest of the society (Viglione, Rudes, & Taxman, 2017). Through this, the offender can communicate not only with the society but also the system which passes across any pertinent information to the offender when necessary. They also act as broker agents whereby any issue between the society and offender is passed across first to the probation officer.
The type of officer who will make a great impact to the offender is the parole officer since he or she has direct contact with the offenders once they are released into the society.
(Burton, Latessa, and Barker, 2015). The parole officer can also provide services to the offender and even provide advice where necessary. Through this, the parole officer is quite important in the transformation of the offender through the roles that he or she plays towards the positive change of the offender.
To become a parole or probation officer, I would fill the role of an agent of rehabilitation whereby I would ensure that the offender has a positive impact towards the society through positive transformation (Fine et al., 2017). I would also ensure that I would fill the role of a mentor or advisor towards the offender by providing advice where necessary and mentoring the offender when it comes to how to interact with the society.
References
Newstrom, N. P., Miner, M., Hoefer, C., Hanson, R. K., & Robinson, B. B. E. (2018). Sex offender supervision: communication, training, and mutual respect are necessary for effective collaboration between probation officers and therapists. Sexual Abuse , 1079063218775970.
Erdem, G., Tuncer, A. E., Safi, O. A., Çankaya, B., Ergin, M., & Aydoğan, R. (2018). The professional experiences and training needs of probation officers in Turkey. Journal of Social Work , 1468017318768181.
Fine, A., Cavanagh, C., Frick, P. J., Steinberg, L., & Cauffman, E. (2017). Can probation officers identify remorse among male adolescent offenders? Psychological assessment , 29 (6), 754.
Viglione, J., Rudes, D. S., & Taxman, F. S. (2017). Probation Officer Use of Client-centered Communication Strategies in Adult Probation Settings." Journal of Offender Rehabilitation. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation , 1 (56), 38.
Burton, V. S., Latessa, E. J., & Barker, T. (2015). The role of probation officers: An examination of statutory requirements. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice , 8 (4), 273-282.
