Arguments in favour of probation

Any analysis of the advantage of probation must begin with the recognition that it is a substitute for commitment to a correctional institution, and nearly all persons who are committed to correctional institutions return to the community most of them within a short time.

In fact, about 60 per cent of prisoners return to the community within six months and 25 per cent within two to three years.

In cases where probation is used, it is not a substitute for permanent incarceration, but, in all probability, a substitute for a short-term in a correctional institution, where there is often little effort to rehabilitate the offender and from which he is often discharged without guidance or assistance into an unfriendly community.

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With this background, we may consider the following advantages of probation:

1- The probationer leads a normal life in the community and continues to perform the social responsibilities expected of him by society.

2- The probationer is not a liability on the state like a prisoner but supports himself as well as his family members economically.

Probation mitigates the adverse consequences of imprisonment. The probationer is not exposed to prison environment and experiences which may leave him stigmatised, embittered and may even make him a serious criminal in association with other prisoners.

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4. He is not alone in his efforts to reform himself but is assisted by a probation officer who guides and advises him from time to time. The probation officer also attempts to keep him away from the environment which produces crime and delinquency.

5. It costs the state less to keep an offender on probation than to confine him in a prison.

6. The prison population is rapidly increasing with increase in crime and in the number of offenders imprisoned every year. As a result, jail officials face serious problems in maintaining internal order and discipline. With a lower population in jails, it would be easier to pay individual attention to offenders.