NCJ Number
192553
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 65 Issue: 3 Dated: December 2001 Pages: 20-23
Editor(s)
Ellen Wilson Fielding
Date Published
December 2001
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the changing role of the fFderal probation officer with the arrival of the guidelines sentencing system.
Abstract
During the last 20 years, the criminal justice system as it relates to Federal offenders has changed significantly with the advent of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The Federal Sentencing Guidelines is a determinate approach to the imposition of a sentence. The Federal probation officer's role in the presentence phase of the criminal justice process has changed dramatically since the inception of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines in 1987. The probation officer's role has evolved from an "officer of the court" preparing presentence reports to an investigator and finder of facts during a time of determinate sentencing. The article argues that the officer's entry into deeper legal dimensions of the Court community shows an impediment to the process of sentencing, especially in regards to plea bargaining. The probation officer is now seen as a more independent operative and possibly as a third party adversary in the sentencing process. Plea negotiations must be conducted with an awareness of changes in the nature of the information provided to the court for sentencing purposes. There is the need to include the Federal probation officer in the court community, in the guidelines system of sentencing. Endnotes, references