The Changing Roles and Experiences of Probation Officers

Introduction According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there were over 4 million adults on probation in the United States in 2010. Today more and more agencies have shifted from simply monitoring an offender’s compliance to using evidenced based practices to reduce recidivism rates. The intense involvement with offenders caused by this shift exposes officers to many new stressors that previously did not exist. A recent study by Kirsten R. Lewis, M.Ed., Ladonna S. Lewis, Ph.D., and Tina M. Garby, Psy.D., examined whether specific caseload events are associated with stress and burnout among this career specialty using various survey instruments. The results confirmed 2 of their hypothesis that officers â€Å"who reported violent and sexual recidivism on their caseloads, offender suicide, and threats and/or assaults in the line of duty scored significantly higher on measures of traumatic stress and burnout†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Length of service was also a contributing factor. The authorsâ€⠄¢ report of job stress on probation officers is applicable to any human service professional and especially supervisors, managers and administrators who have the capacity to make meaningful change by creating training programs and establishing ways to deal with the negative caseload events. The small study sample limited reliability of the results and more data is needed to assess the overall problem. Ms. K. R. Lewis is a probation officer with the Maricopa County Adult Probation Department and is an adjunctShow MoreRelatedSection V And V Of The Corrections Textbook By Stohr Et Al1035 Words   |  5 PagesFebruary 17, 2015 Introduction: For this research and analysis paper we were assigned Section V and VI in the Corrections textbook by Stohr et al. Section V (five) covers probation and community corrections with pertinent and important concepts as well as many legal definitions. 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