Mark
Bottom of Form / Corrections Today, August 1995 v57 n5 p100(5)
Probation: strength through association. Donald G. Evans.
Abstract: Probation has evolved from a alternative crime prevention practice in the 19th century into a formal criminal rehabilitation concept used by judicial systems in various states. This can be attributed to the American Correctional Assn. and the National Probation Assn.'s display of unwavering support for probation during the early 1900s up to present. The advent of new rehabilitation ideas in the 1960s also contributed to the growth of probation.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 1995 American Correctional Association, Inc.
The story of probation begins in a Boston courtroom in 1841 when John Augustus, a local shoemaker, became interested in the operation of the courts. He was particularly sensitive to and interested in the problems of individuals who were before the courts for alcohol-related offenses. Augustus intervened in selected cases before the court and, by posting bail, had the offenders released to his supervision. He was not indiscriminate in his requests, and he developed one of the first risk/needs assessment procedures. He carefully screened the offenders he sought to help. In his own words: "Great care was observed of course, to ascertain whether the prisoners were promising subjects for probation, and to this end it was necessary to take into consideration the previous character of the person, his age, and the influences by which he would in the future be likely to be surrounded."
He was the first person to use the word "probation" in a correctional context. For his efforts, Augustus has been recognized by countless probation officers, past and present, as the "Father of Probation." He left a legacy, a working model - or in today's language, a technology of care. His method of working involved what today would be considered good probation practice - namely investigating, screening, interviewing and supervising those released and providing them with aftercare services, including employment, relief and education assistance.
By 1878, Massachusetts passed legislation formalizing probation and providing authority to create a paid probation staff. The rest, as they say, is history.
ACA's Early Support for Probation
Support for probation has always been forthcoming from the American Correctional Association (ACA). Gardiner Tufts, at the 1889 Congress of Correction in Nashville, stated: "Imprisonments are more frequent and numerous than they need to be. Many an imprisoned convict could be as effectually restrained outside a prison as within; he could be better dealt with, while at the same time, the community outside could be as well protected against him. Moreover, under efficient control, in a free community, he can oftentimes be more speedily and surely reformed than if excluded from society by walls . . . The time has come for a systematic effort to keep out of prison a large class of adults who are now committed to prison. It seems to us that the least restraint upon an offender, which is sufficient to hold him from harm to himself and from harming the community, is the best to impose upon him."
In 1901, Elizabeth Tuttle, a probation officer from Boston, was asked to describe her work for the benefit of those in attendance at the Kansas City Congress of Correction. She gave a brief history of probation in her state and described her work method. She concluded her remarks by saying, "[W]e try to keep them out of prison when we can." This theme - keeping offenders out of prison - continued as a probation mission of early reformers who spoke at the annual congresses.
The NPA and ACA
In 1907, a handful of probation officers founded the National Association of Probation Officers at the National Conference of Charities and Correction. In the same year, at the Chicago Congress, Judge Mack noted in a discussion on probation that he had "learned that the imprisonment of men with families oftentimes works a greater hardship upon the family than upon the criminal." He exhorted those present to foster the development of probation in their locales.
By 1911, the first directory of probation officers was published, and the newly formed association for probation officers had changed its name to the National Probation Association (NPA). The association's first independent conference was in Buffalo in 1913, and by 1915 it had published its first annual proceedings.
In 1921, NPA cooperated with the American Prison Association (now ACA) in presenting a one-day conference on probation in Jacksonville, Fla. This event marked the beginning of a long affiliation between the two associations. NPA has arranged sessions on probation and parole at all subsequent ACA congresses of correction.
In Boston in 1923, the meetings on probation and parole were lively and related to discussions on parole standards and the public's acceptance of probation. In his address, Herbert Parsons of Boston cautioned the delegates to "keep ourselves in an inquiring and a progressing mood in order that we shall not fall into gross error of thinking . . ."
The problems we currently face are similar to issues faced by our forerunners. Note the words of Frank Wade at the 1923 Congress: "The extension of probation for felonies still encounters strenuous antagonism and distrust. Most of this antagonism flows from the fear that probation will undermine the efficiency of punishment as a deterrent of crime. Formerly, severity of punishment was believed to be the great deterrent. Severity of punishment has not deterred crime to any great extent." This last point is a view more and more people are beginning to share in today's environment, as dissatisfaction with the war on drugs and mandatory minimum sentences grows.
In 1927, the Committee on Probation, in its report to the delegates assembled in Tacoma, Wash., reached out to colleagues in prison work by acknowledging that "[w]e of the probation service need and bespeak the constructive criticism and the active aid of institution people and all others engaged and interested in discriminating, reformative treatment of the offenders."
The 1930s saw the continued efforts of the American Prison Association and NPA to foster the growth and development of probation. Charles Chute of NPA commenting, in 1931, on the report of the committee on probation appointed by the officers of the American Prison Association noted that "[t]hose of us who have urged for years the importance of developing probation as the first line of defense in crime treatment are . . . encouraged today by increasing proof of the acceptance of this principle."
Toward the end of the 1940s, NPA took in the struggling American Parole Association. In 1947, it became known as the National Probation and Parole Association (NPPA). It continued its affiliation with ACA's congresses, participating in program development and the work of the probation committee. This arrangement lasted until the middle of 1960 when the NPPA was superseded by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD). Although the NCCD was in the forefront of progressive penal reform, a specific, identifiable forum for probation as a profession had been lost.
Up to the 1960s, probation and its associations had a clear focus and mission that was guided by the liberal reformative ideals of that generation. There was no doubt that the social climate was conducive to the growth of probation - but this climate was about to change.
From High Ideals to Nothing Works
The 1960s started with the high ideals of the rehabilitative movement still in good currency. But by the end of the decade, disenchantment with rehabilitation programs was becoming more noticeable. The now famous "nothing works" dictum gathered support from both sides of the political spectrum, although for different reasons. The viewpoint that rehabilitation efforts had failed and that the system was becoming too lenient gained general support from the political right, while the left and those in the center had come to see rehabilitative approaches, backed by the indeterminate sentencing philosophy, as a major cause of sentence disparity and lack of proportion in punishment.
Close on the heels of the "nothing works" debate came major efforts at sentencing reform and the eventual emergence of the justice model in corrections. This philosophical shift, coupled with the growing fiscal problems facing governments, started an avalanche of reviews, retorts and reworkings of probation's role and function.
ACA's congresses and publications during this period reflected the tension that was beginning to arise in the field of probation and community corrections. From the mid-1960s to the mid-'70s, the ideas most often heard tended to deal with a general agreement that probation as initiated by Augustus basically was an extralegal method that sought to provide leniency and rehabilitation. What was offered was the notion that probation served punitive goals, but it also was important to acknowledge that rehabilitation could be a legitimate goal of probation.
The APPA
It was in this climate that ACA's Probation Committee, at the Houston Congress in 1974, had placed on its agenda the idea for starting a national association that would represent the interests of probation. Participants were assigned specific organizing tasks. Bertis Sellars was appointed interim president of the fledgling organization that would meet at the 1975 Congress in Louisville to formalize a new association - the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA). The interim officers were formally elected in 1975, and a constitution was in place by 1977.
APPA committed itself to realistic and effective programming and stronger and more consistent public support through an improved public image, sound leadership, less fragmentation and increased professionalism in the field of probation and parole. The mechanisms chosen to meet this mandate were education through the establishment of an annual institute, cooperation with like-minded organizations and communication through its magazine, Perspectives.
In 1977, at APPA's second annual institute held in conjunction with ACA's Milwaukee Congress, APPA President Sellars introduced ACA Executive Director Anthony Travisono, who set the tone for the institute by referring to the issues that made it important for probation and parole to develop its own authentic voice that could and should join with other voices in the correctional community.
In his address, Travisono noted that "we have been seriously attacked over the last few years, and the attack is not stopping." In referring to the major criticisms facing the field of corrections, he made it clear that throwing out rehabilitation would not be the solution. He called on the institute's delegates to share his hope that a spirit of togetherness would emerge.
Robert Keldgord, in his review of the first 20 years of APPA, noted that ACA provided "great help to the infant organization, including some funding, co-sponsorship of functions and serving as a launching pad."
In the mid-1980s, the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) funded a project to rethink probation and to encourage probation professionals to be creative and forward thinking in dealing with current trends and issues. The project resulted in the book Probation and Justice: Reconsideration of Mission. The authors call on probation professionals to assess and respond to the problems of probation. They argued this work "begs for active participation by probation practitioners to ensure that other actors, closely or loosely associated with the field, pay adequate attention to implications of probation practice" of a reformulated mission.
Probation - Today and Beyond
As we approach the 125th anniversary of ACA and the 20th Annual Training Institute of APPA, the challenges to the field of probation are no less threatening. In the intervening years, though, a strong sense of confidence and a willingness to learn from the past have developed. Probation as an agency has proven to be very adaptable. It is in the forefront of arguing for balance in our criminal justice system - balance in the protection of the community, individual victims and the rights of community members who offend community norms and laws. This year APPA unveiled its new vision statement, the product of its Community Justice Project, supported by NIC (see box on page 101).
At this year's ACA Congress of Correction, the Community Corrections Committee is sponsoring a supporting session that asks the question: "Is a consensus possible in community corrections?" Representatives from the International Association of Community and Residential Alternatives, APPA and ACA will participate. The committee is gathering information on community corrections and intermediate sanctions, reviewing ACA policies and resolutions on community corrections, and endeavoring to define the elements that would comprise a mission statement for community corrections and intermediate sanctions.
It is thanks to efforts such as these, that probation has, over the past 125 years, strengthened its voice. It is more confident and, therefore, better able to join forces with others to work for community safety and justice as we enter the 21st century.
REFERENCES
Augustus, John. 1852. A report of the labors of John Augustus. Reprinted in 1984 by the American Probation and Parole Association.
Chute, C. L., and M. Bell. 1956. Crime, courts and probation. New York: MacMillan Co.
Fulton, Betsy. 1995. APPA's Vision: Welcome to the land of Oz . . . where dreams can come true. Perspectives (Spring).
Keldgord, R. E. 1994. APPA, the first 20 years: 1974-1994. Lexington, Ky.: American Probation and Parole Association.
Leeke, William. 1977. Presidential address. American Journal of Corrections (Sept.-Oct.).
McAnany, P. D., Douglas Thomson and David Fagel. 1984. Probation and justice: Reconsideration of mission. Cambridge: Oelgeschlager, Gunn and Hain.
Proceedings from annual congress. 1889, 1901, 1903, 1907, 1920, 1923, 1927-29, 1931, 1932 and 1972. Various locations: ACA.
RELATED ARTICLE
In 1995, the American Probation and Parole Association continued its leadership role by developing the following vision statement:
We see a fair, just and safe society where community partnerships are restoring hope by embracing a balance of prevention, intervention and advocacy.
We seek to create a system of Community Justice where:
* a full range of sanctions and services provides public safety by ensuring humane, effective, and individualized sentences for offenders, and support and protection for victims;
* primary prevention initiatives are cultivated through our leadership and guidance;
* our communities are empowered to own and participate in solutions;
* results are measured and direct our service delivery;
* dignity and respect describe how each person is treated;
* staff are empowered and supported in an environment of honesty, inclusion, and respect for differences; and
* partnerships with stakeholders lead to shared ownership of our vision.
Donald G. Evans is chair of ACA's Community Corrections Committee and past president of APPA and the Probation Officers Association of Ontario.
Article A17340461
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