Probation Officer Stressors

Probation and/or parole officers are under major stress in their jobs because they are responsible for other people’s lives and safety. These officers are also responsible for heavy caseloads which in turns causes not enough time to thoroughly complete these caseloads and results in officers stressed that they are unable to effectively do their jobs. Probation and parole officers are placed in many traumatic situations that can lead to burnout. Another major stressor for these officers is the uncertainty of their roles in their cases. Role conflict is the difficulty for officers to enforce rules and laws; and then to provide support and reintegration. This stressor is major because officers have to differentiate between their responsibilities in the case and the ability to help offenders who have broken the law.
If I was a probation officer the biggest stressor for me would be the responsibility of revoking someone’s probation or parole because they were noncompliant with their conditions. This would probably make me feel like I didn’t complete my job duties and I would stress on how to do things differently with another cases given to me. I don’t think there is any stressor that a person can completely handle. With that being said I think as a probation officer one way to reduce stress in your job would be to create a plan that best suits each case to not only the offenders needs but yours as