The Liaison Probation Officer
| DOI | 10.1177/002201834000400109 |
| Published date | 01 January 1940 |
| Date | 01 January 1940 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The Liaison Probation Officer
By A
COUNTY
JUSTICE
THE
position of a Liaison Probation Officer in courts of
assize and quarter sessions is somewhat of a novelty,
and it is thought
that
it would be of interest to discuss the
reasons which have led up to the establishment of such an
office, to point
out
the duties involved, how they can best be
performed, and what advantages will, it is hoped, result
from this extension of the Probation System.
Some general observations are necessary in order fully
to appreciate the importance of this new office, and how it
will contribute towards rendering more complete the methods
of helping and guiding and reclaiming those who have in
some way or another fallen foul of the criminal law, which
it is the object of the system to afford.
Whatever criticism may have been directed towards
the
Probation System when it was originally recognized
under
the Probation Act, 19°7, has long since disappeared,
and
probably no one concerned in the administration of the
criminal law, whether in courts of summary jurisdiction, or
at assizes or quarter sessions, could nowadays be found who
does
not
acknowledge its value and importance in the public
interest.
The
undoubted success of the system of probation
is mainly due to the work of the probation officers themselves,
but
also in an increasing degree to the care now taken by
Courts of Justice in formulating suitable supervision orders
and attaching to them suitable conditions which the proba-
tioner undertakes to observe.
Under
the Act of 1907 as amended by an Act of 1914
it is provided that the recognizance or undertaking given by
the offender may contain conditions which the court "having
regard to the particular circumstances of the case consider
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