Social worker, law enforcer, and now bill collector: Probation officers’ collection of supervision fees

Abstract

Probation officers have long had to balance social work and law enforcement orientations to meet the needs of the individuals on probation and to enforce the conditions of probation. In some jurisdictions, probation officers have a large responsibility in the collection and enforcement of probation fees. Little research has examined how that job function impacts the work of probation officers. The rehabilitative and punitive goals of probation may become secondary to the revenue generating goals. Transcripts of focus groups and interviews with 74 probation officers and managers in four probation jurisdictions in Texas were analyzed. The major finding was that, with a central focus on collections, probation officers risked moving away from an integrated social worker/law enforcer role focused on criminogenic needs, to being focused on revenue collection, thus making them akin to bill collectors.