Published In
Handbook of Community Corrections
Document Type
Post-Print
Publication Date
1-2017
Subjects
Probation, Community-based corrections
Abstract
Probation is a court order through which a criminal defendant is placed under the control, supervision, and care of a probation officer in lieu of imprisonment; so long as the probationer maintains certain standards of conduct. This chapter reviews the historical development of probation in the United States, and highlights how the practice is used in the 21st century. Probation has many advantages over imprisonment, including lower operational costs, increased opportunities for rehabilitation, and reduced risk of criminal socialization. However, there is increasing evidence to suggest probation strategies that focus on compliance monitoring and other law enforcement aspects of supervision are not effective in reducing recidivism, and under some circumstances may even increase it. Finally, this chapter concludes with a review of the status of the emerging efforts to redefine the function of probation in the modern era.
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/22750
Citation Details
Labrecque, Ryan. (2017). Probation in the United States: A Historical and Modern Perspective. In, Handbook of Corrections in the United States. Griffin III, O. H., & Woodward, V. H. (Eds.).
Description
This is the author manuscript of an Invited chapter submitted to O. Hayden Griffin and Vanessa Woodward (Eds.), 12 Handbook of Corrections in the United States. New York, NY: Routledge. The final version can be found in Section Three: Community Corrections and Alternative Sanctions. Chapter 15.