Role and Responsibility of a U.S Parole Officer

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Table of Contents

Roles
Responsibilities
Required Training necessary
Day-to-day activities
Challenges
Journals referred to

A parole officer serves as an agent of the parole board in the department of corrections. They play a crucial role in the criminal justice field where they spot, check and supervise offenders on parole and recommend actions entailing formulation of rehabilitation plans and treatment of offenders, including conditional release, their education, and employment stipulations before they are through with their actual sentences.

People convicted of crimes and have served time in prison are often released on parole. This is done to recon jest prisons and save government expenditures used to cater for prisoners. During parole, offenders must evade trouble and fulfill other various requirements. To ensure this happens, parole officers come in. Their work is crucial but often goes unrecognized.

Parole officers in the United States perform many of the duties that probation officers perform. The difference is that parole officers supervise offenders who have been released from prison, whereas probation officers also known as community supervision officers in some states, work with those who are sentenced on probation instead of prison.

Roles

They reintegrate offenders back into the community by counseling them and organizing rehabilitation for them to follow when no longer in prison. Moreover, they develop rehabilitation programs for the assigned offenders where they arrange for medical, mental health, and substance abuse treatments according to individuals’ needs or court orders. (Brown, P W, 1989)

They also play a role in law enforcement on the front line in the judicial systems where they deal with heavy caseloads and ensure that court sanctions are followed.

They may also ensure offenders get rehabilitation for substance abuse and job training to correct and shun their old ways. To ensure this happens, they monitor offenders to prevent and ensure they do not commit new crimes. (Quinn and Gould, 2003)

They collect information from any relevant source about the offender’s background. With this information, they can handle their offenders compressively.

They discuss with offenders how such issues as drug and alcohol abuse or anger management problems might have played a role in their behavior, which landed them in prisons.

They make a substantial contribution to ensuring the safety of cities and communities by monitoring criminal offenders returning to the community. This though sometimes happens under difficult and most dangerous circumstances. (Sigler and Mcgraw, 1984)

Where their jobs are combined they sometimes seek assistance from community groups such as religious institutions and residents to monitor the behavior of many offenders.

They also organize post-release services which include counseling, education, employment, housing, and social activities.

At times they ensure close supervision of offenders on parole through personal contact with them and their families instead of offenders having to struggle to obtain schedules in their offices to meet them.

Responsibilities

They are supposed to familiarize themselves thoroughly with the cases to testify at the hearing and answer the questions of others present. Afterward, they are required to prepare and maintain case folders for each assigned inmate.

They go through the hearing procedure and before the hearing, take all steps required to assure that relevant material evidence will be available at the hearing on each of the charges and the issues of disposition. This can be done by checking on the evidence available to assure that it is clear whenever possible.

Also, they interview persons who would be reliable and credible witnesses and ensure they obtain any available and useful documents. For instance, at the hearings, they take notes on the proceedings as well as give opinions and recommendations within the scope of their specialized education or recognized expertise.

In addition, they testify, gather, examine and bring witnesses and documents to the extent necessary to assure that the hearing officer is fully and accurately informed of the facts.

They have the power to arrest parolees if they break the terms of the parole and if the parole officer feels that it has become necessary to send the parolee to jail as a consequence of their behavior, then he must arrest the parolee.

They are required to jot reports explaining offenders’ progress and inform them of requirements of conditional releases, such as restitution payments or educational and employment stipulations.

Use manual and electronic systems to maintain quality-reporting process and also prepare concise reporting summaries for the information of court and parole boards and most importantly to conduct surveillance on offenders based on a community order.

Required Training necessary

They undergo six months of training where they are supposed to work as trainees before they obtain a permanent job as parole officers.

In addition to their training, they need to learn criminal justice where they are supposedly required to hold a bachelor’s degree in social work and psychology. Many though hold masters in criminal justice, which has now become a requirement in some states.

Parenting training combined with anger management therapies and counseling of peers on issues involving drug abuse, its prevention, and appeals of improving self-esteem are major requirements in their course.

Furthermore, they need to learn sociology and anthropology, which enriches them with the knowledge entailing societal trends and group behavior influences.

Finally, they need to learn public safety and security, which helps them to efficiently deal with tools, policies, and strategies on security.

Day-to-day activities

They handle and resolve conflicts by negotiating with others and settling and resolving disputes.

Making decisions and solving problems through analyzing and evaluating information outcomes to get the best solution and deal with problems.

Documenting and recording information in written or electronic form and consequently give their verdict.

They deal with complaints arising daily in the communities where they resolve grievances concerning their parolees.

Visit offenders and keep close contact with parolees to monitor their progress while trying to fit in the society and also assure the society that their security is looked at.

Challenges

Convincing the community that the parolee released is by no chance a threat to them and ensuring that they do not hurt or become a menace to any member of the community is a tremendous challenge.

Parole officers have to monitor offenders’ every move to prevent them from indulging in the same or even worse acts like they had before. This entails following them to even the most dangerous places. This may be met with tremendous objections since the gang-related to the parolee may see it as a threat to their illegal businesses and ensure the officer is eliminated.

Ensuring parolees are not idle in society to keep them off from returning to their old ways is a major challenge. Parole officers must find jobs or schools for parolees to go to which is a major challenge in their careers. (LINDQUIST and WHITEHEAD, 1986).

Dealing with parolees who most of them are hardened criminals and convincing them to shun their old lifestyles is by itself a huge challenge.

Managing to convince parolees to go into rehab and cease his or her drug habit problems is a tremendous challenge.

Finally, the idea of handling offenders on parole, where they have to ensure they reintegrate well back in the community without posing a menace to society is a great challenge.

At times they have to work during odd hours when carrying out surveillance on parolees which keeps them far from their families which is also a challenge. (Whitehead and Lindquist, 1985)

Journals referred to

P W Brown, 1989, The Probation and Parole officer as hearing officers, Federal Probation journal, vol: 53.

Quinn and Gould, 2003:The prioritization of treatment among Texas Parole Officers, The prison Journal, vol: 83:323-336.

LINDQUIST and WHITEHEAD, 1986,correctional officers as Parole officers, An examination of a community supervision, SAGE JOURNAL, vol: 13:197-222.

Sigler and Mcgraw, 198,Parole Officers:Influence of their weapons, Roles and perceptions, SAGE JOURNALS, vol 9:28-32.

Whitehead and Lindquist, 1985,Job stress and burnout among probation officers and Parole Officers: perception and casual factors, SAGE JOURNAL, vol 29:109-119.

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