Decision-Making and Offender Supervision

TLDR: In this paper, a probation officer sits by his fax machine or telephone in the morning and receives information from the police about offenders who have been arrested the night before, and decides whom he will visit that day, have a talk with, probably write a report about and about whom he would advise the investigating judge or the courts on a sentence or an alternative to pre-trial detention.

Abstract: A probation officer sits by his fax machine or telephone in the morning and receives information from the police about offenders who have been arrested the night before. He has to decide whom he will visit that day, have a talk with, probably write a report about and about whom he will advise the investigating judge or the courts on a sentence or an alternative to pre-trial detention. Who is it going to be? How is he going to decide? Another probation officer has a client fail to show up for supervision — not for the first time. When does she decide to start the breach procedure? What influences her decision? Who else is involved in the final decision? A judge or committee has to ponder whether to release an offender who has served half his sentence. What are the criteria that guide this person or body, and by which agencies and by whose advice are they influenced?