Identify and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of placing probation services within the judicial branch of government

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Advantages
• Probation is more responsive to the courts, to which it provides services, when administered by the judiciary. The relationship of probation staff to the courts creates an automatic feedback mechanism on the effectiveness of various dispositions.
• Courts will have greater awareness of the resources needed by the probation agency.
• Judges will have greater confidence in an agency for which they are responsible, allowing probation staff more discretion than they would allow members of an outside agency.
• If probation is administered on a statewide basis, it is usually incorporated into a department of corrections, and under such circumstances probation services might be assigned a lower priority than they would have as part of the judicial branch.
Disadvantages
• Judges, trained in law and not administration, are not equipped to administer probation services.
• Under judicial control, services to persons on probation may receive a lower priority than services to the judge (e.g., presentence investigations).
• Probation staff may be assigned duties unrelated to probation.
• The courts are adjudicatory and regulative; they are not service-oriented bodies.