NCJ Number
138281
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 36 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1992) Pages: 120-128
Date Published
1992
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Although probation rehabilitation services and supervision are inadequate in West Bengal, India, a study of 100 ex-probationers in the metropolitan city of Calcutta and the rural areas of the district of Hooghly found that all but three had adopted a normal law-abiding life pattern.
Abstract
Official data on probationers in West Bengal for 1981- 87 found that the majority of probationers were illiterate, unmarried, unskilled laborers with low incomes from a rural area. Although this probationer profile would suggest the need for probation rehabilitation services, an evaluation of such services found them to be virtually nonexistent, even after 30 years of probation operations in the State. Intensive probation supervision is also lacking; there was one probation officer for 3,253 square kilometers as of January 1, 1990. Still, an analysis of 100 ex-probationers who had successfully completed their probation during the last 15 years in West Bengal found that some 70 percent had developed a normal law-abiding life without any mandatory or voluntary probation rehabilitation services. The author concludes that the low rate of recidivism among the probationers in the absence of rehabilitation services is due to a self-corrective process typical of life development in West Bengal. Although youth in West Bengal may engage in deviant and delinquent acts, they eventually comply with cultural norms and accept their lot in life. Reasons for this normative compliance are examined. 2 tables and 9 references