History & Analysis of Probation Sentencing

Probation is the most common form of criminal sentencing in the United States. It is generally defined as a court-ordered disposition alternative through which a convicted offender is placed under the supervision and control of a probation officer instead of being incarcerated (Petersilia "Part One," 1998, p. 1). The idea of probation was first conceived of by a Boston shoe cobbler named John Augustus. In 1841, Augustus persuaded the Boston Police Court to grant him custody of an adult drunkard rather than put the man in jail (MAPCO, n.p.). Augustus successfully reformed the drunkard and thereafter convinced the court to release other offenders into his supervision.

Even as early as the mid-1800s, however, this alternative form of punishment was controversial. The Minnesota Association of County Probation Officers (MAPCO) notes that the police, court clerks, and jailers all resisted Augustus' effort. Nonetheless, in 1878, Massachusetts became the first state to create an official statewide probation system with salaried officers (MAPCO, n.p.). Today, every state in the nation and many countries who model their corrections systems on the United States include probation as an integral part of their systems (MACPO, n.p.).

In 1995, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that just over 3 million adults were supervised under some form of probation. This number made up 58 percent of all adults in the correctional system (Petersilia "Part One," 1998, p. 1). Al

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s and the courts. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that most probation officers fulfill a 6-month training program before being placed in permanent positions (2000, p. 3). Although the ultimate responsibilities of probation officers has remained the same since the creation of the system at the turn of the nineteenth century, the ways that probation officers carry out their work has changed significantly over the years. Before the significant advances in technology and the changes in the view of the role of the community in police work that have changed their work, probation officers were largely to meet regularly with their probationers in their offices (BLS, 2002-03, p.2). That changed, however, when criminologists and social work experts suggested that probation work was more effective when it took into consideration the probationer's lifestyle within his community. Since then, probation officers have often been required to meet with probationers in their communities, such as in their homes or at their workplaces or places of therapy (BLS, 2002-03, p. 2). Probation officers also work more closely now with other community organizations, such as homeless or religious organizations, to try to ensure the probationers' suc

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