Question

Probation officers do not only supervise offenders. A community corrections officer plays many roles. These roles can lead to different conflicts. Appraise the different roles probation officers play. What are your thoughts on how these roles can result in ambiguity and conflict? Criminal justice positions can cause burnout. This is true of probation officers. Explore the different ways probation officers can experience stress and burnout. What are your thoughts on different measures that probation officers can implement to reduce burnout and stress?

Answer 1

Role of Probation officers: Conflicts and burn out.

Probation officer:

Probation officer is a law enforcement officer who supervises offenders who have been released from incarceration and often , recommends sentencing in courts of law. They have to prevent the offenders from committing new crimes.  

Roles of Probation officers:

* Determine the best course of Action for the offenders by evaluting them.

* Arrange discussion session with the offender regarding the treatment options.

* Facilitate and arrange treatment programmes

* Provide resources to aid the offender's  rehabilitation

* Monitor their progress by supervising them

* Arrange meetings with offenders and his family members to discuss the progress.

* Investigate the history of offenders and submit to court

* Write reports on the progress of offenders and special incidents.

Role conflicts :

Probation officer should also act as a :

- Community supervision officers

- Pre trial service officers

- Correctional treatment specialists

- Parole officers

As the Probation officer should carry out two main duties ; Treatment and supervision, both have different  philosophy. The probation officer should be strict, same time , he should be kind and warm hearted. Especially when an officer is working with juvenile criminals, he has to provide the environment for correction, but same time he has to understand the juveniles' emotional needs. A probation officer will be in conflict during the time of Report writing. He has to be honest and accountable to his profession. He has to report the progress or regress of the child. Based on his report Court will take further action. He should not be subjective in writing the report but same time he has to consider the child's developmental age and his need of emotional support. In some countries Probation officers have the roles of ordering probation, paroles, home detention and intensive correction. During such a circumstance of decision making , Probation officers might experience great amount of emotional conflict.  

Burn out and stress: Most of the Probation officers are suffering burn out in their job and stress. They have to act as correctional officer, parole officer, pre trial service officers in many jurisdictions. Paper work is more for them as the Court may give deadlines, they have to submit the reports in time . When there are number offenders, then the Probation officers might get a fair amount of work load to finish within a time limit. Dangers and risks are also there in the job, as the officers have to do the field work for researching the history of criminals. Attending to the cases of child abuse, different cases of torchering and the painful childhood of offenders may make the officers more emotionally attached to the offenders, that may affect the professionalism.

Measures to reduce stress and conflict:

* Act according to the professional and personal ethics

* In case of a conflict situation, ask the advice from the seniors or experienced professional people

* Practice relaxation techniques, deep breathing exercises and meditation.

* Write and submit the reports on time, otherwise it wil become an over load.

*When going for fieldwork use the fire arm weapon , that the Government provided for the safety of the Probation officers.