Probation Officers Role Of Victims In The Criminal Justice System

Probation officers role within the field of victim services has advanced over the past couple of decades. Previously underutilized within the criminal justice system, support and advocacy for victims is becoming a major part of the job for probation officers. The job of a probation officer has evolved from "court-oriented" to "victim-centric". Specifically understanding the needs of victims and their importance in the system can majorly affect the outcome of the offender’s probation. Victims can contribute to the investigative process of the probation department and ultimately impact the offender’s sentence through victim impact statements. Recently developed tools and resources helped aid the advancement of victim services in probation. Victim impact training programs, victim offender mediation, and geographic information systems all positively impact the way victims are being cared for in the criminal justice system. However, victim services cannot be provided effectively without collaboration from outside agencies in the community. These agencies are able to present more specific and direct support to victims of crime, and may be able to offer more one on one time that a probation officer may not have time for. The development and evolution of victim services by probation officers has strongly progressed over the past few decades and
This data set includes information including: total victims served, new victim data, demographics of victims, services provided, and outsider referrals made. A second data set will provide information on total number of probationers in the 2016 caseload. This information can be use comparatively in order to know the percentage of victims to probationers. The information will be collected directly from the victim services unit in the form of a statistical performance report, as well as from probation departments and their yearly case