NCJ Number
72226
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 44 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1980) Pages: 57-66
Date Published
1980
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Supervision of persons placed on probation and parole requires careful planning in order that the client can improve his social adjustment throughout the period of supervision and carry that adjustment into the future.
Abstract
Case planning is based on the premise that a probation officer can serve as an agent of change in the life of a probationer, and that while a voluntary commitment to program participation is most desirable, coercive casework can be successful. Good supervision planning involves analyzing clients' problems, establishing goals to address these problems, assigning priorities to these goals, and designing action steps to reach these goals within a given time frame. In evaluating the client, the supervisor must study relevant background material, and set up a system of optimum goals for all clients. Good supervision planning will involve the client in planning his future; broaden the area of concern from just those outlined in the probation rules to concerns for the clients' emotional, social, family, or career problems; and insure greater continuity of effort through all phases of the corrections process. Such planning will also improve the probation officer's knowledge of the client's background; cause contacts with the client to be more goal directed; force the probation officer to make better use of community resources; and lead to purposeful case contacts which will provide a more economical utilization of the probation officer's time and related expenses. For the probation department, good supervision planning will demand continuity of effort in supervision, permit better evaluation of the work of the probation officer, and provide a vehicle for determining the treatment needs of the department's caseloads. Periodic review and updating of the client's plan will result in the case plan being the major working document of the case file. Failure to do good case planning results in the probation officer's reacting, rather than acting, and busying himself with handling crisis situations. Diagrams and flowcharts illustrate steps to be taken in planning.