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Tue 7 Jun, 2005 08:38 am
HI!
I'm in the middle of doing research for a law firm in Michigan concerning whether probation officers should be required to under go psychological testing like police officers do. If anyone has any comments or stories they would like to share concerning this topic please feel free, I'm willing to listen to either side of the argument. Right now I'm fresh out of new ideas for research, so I thought perhaps posting on a message board and receiving responses might help me remove the mental roadblock I've erected.
Thanks!
Surely obvious misfits could be screened out by interview? Would the purpose of testing be to have "objective" grounds for not hiring?
I'd have to say that in my experience for the most part interview's help some, but there's not enough one on one interaction to gauge a person's motivations. A sad thing is that more than a few probation officers become probation officers because they have a chip on their shoulder. When I was in school my advisor would tell us that there's nothing worse than a probation officer who was once a victim and never dealt with that fact.
Given the workload and the low pay of the probation officer you must have trouble hiring warm bodies let alone qualified people.
I'm not sure about where you're from but right now in west michigan we have forty plus applicants for every job. There's an overload of graduates and not enough money to hire them all.
I'm from northeastern Pennsylvania. Jobs are scarce here, but the turnover for probation officers and other social work types is horrendous.
Do you think the turnover rate could have anything to do with the fact that they weren't emotionally capable of handling the job?
Very few people have the capacity to handle triple the recommended case loads.
Also, while a probation officer has some clout the police are busy dealing with ongoing crime and don't necessarily have the time to pick up probation violators.
I have to say that while I am well aware of how overworked probation officers are, that really only supports the point that their should be some sort of psychological screening. Probation officers have a great deal of clout, at least here they do. If someone violates probation (we usually give a warning or two) we call the police and go with them to pick up the violater and take them back to the county jail.
Same here--but the police are often too busy to play hide and seek with the malefactor.
Back to your original question: If the testing were designed to sort out people who could be overworked while under great pressure, testing might be a good idea.
The tests should test for stamina as well as sensitivity.
I've worked - in Germany - as a probation officer: you have to study social work, have to have got some experiences in fields of social work related to probation work, have to have excellent juridical and law knowledge, have to undergo some 'eliminations' during job application, start with a novitiate, then become a civil servant servant on probation for a period of at least one year until you finally become a civil servant for lifetime.
Seems quite different to the situation in the USA.
I agree with that noddy. And also Germany's practice sounds very interesting, i'd like to look into it more. Are there any english texts that you know of with more information?
nimacu wrote: And also Germany's practice sounds very interesting, i'd like to look into it more. Are there any english texts that you know of with more information?
This is a good, short introduction to the differences between the German and US/British criminla law/öaw systems.
Some infos on probation (officres) is to be found
here, including link to the website (in German) of the professional association. (And you can find more infos in the mainpage there as well!)
This link leads to an article "Alternatives to Imprisonment in the German Criminal Justice System".
Youth Criminal Law in Germany
Thank you! Does anyone else know about any other country's views on probation?
In Awizerland and Austria, it's similar to Germany (nearly identical, since you can work in either country without any special/additional examination [of course you should know the different laws :wink: ]).
Thank you! I read the article on the first site completely, it made me want to whip out my passport and move to Germany. But alas, i don't actually have a passport.
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