NCJ Number
137288
Journal
FJC Directions Issue: 3 Dated: (May 1992) Pages: 13-22
Date Published
1992
Length
10 pages
Annotation
The Federal Probation System's new procedures for supervising Federal offenders, called "enhanced supervision," has consequences for the courts as well as for probation officers.
Abstract
The goals of enhanced supervision differ from those of the previous system. The old system defined the goal of supervision as "engaging the available community resources or providing assistance directly to aid offenders in organizing their lives to successfully meet the challenges of life in conformity with the law." The new system has three supervision goals, which are tied directly to the statutory responsibilities of probation officers: to ensure compliance with the conditions of release, control risk, and provide correctional treatment to offenders, in order of priority. The measures of success under enhanced supervision are the degree to which the offender has complied with the release conditions and addressed risk-control and correctional treatment issues as well as the timeliness and appropriateness of the officer's intervention. The courts will be impacted through increased requests by probation officers for removal or modification of conditions, more requests for additional conditions, complaints from defense attorneys, and more release violations and revocations. Although probation officers and supervisors generally support the new approach to supervision, its success requires that judges initially impose supervision conditions with care and respond promptly to requests for their modification or for the imposition of sanctions for noncompliance. 3 notes