Walking the line: Specialized and standard probation officer perspectives on supervising probationers with serious mental illnesses

Specialized probation programs were developed to more effectively address the unique needs of probationers with serious mental illnesses. Probation officers are tasked with serving both law enforcement and rehabilitative functions, and officers play an important gatekeeper function in helping probat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of law and psychiatry 2014-09, Vol.37 (5), p.473-483
Main Authors: Epperson, Matthew W., Canada, Kelli, Thompson, Julian, Lurigio, Arthur
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Humans
Interviews
Interviews as Topic
Law Enforcement
Mental health
Mental Health Services - organization & administration
Mental illness
Mentally Ill Persons
Prisoners - psychology
Probation
Probation officer
Probation system
Qualitative analysis
Qualitative Research
Risk Factors
Serious mental illness
Specialized probation
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Summary:Specialized probation programs were developed to more effectively address the unique needs of probationers with serious mental illnesses. Probation officers are tasked with serving both law enforcement and rehabilitative functions, and officers play an important gatekeeper function in helping probationers with serious mental illnesses avoid long incarceration sentences. The purpose of this paper was to explore specialized and standard probation officers' work in supervising probationers with serious mental illnesses. Twenty-one probation officers (11 specialized and 10 standard) participated in semi-structured interviews. Qualitative analyses examined: 1 — beliefs on the relationship between mental illness and crime; 2 — purpose of specialized and standard probation units; and 3 — approaches to supervising probationers with serious mental illnesses. Implications for developing more effective probation supervision programs are discussed.
ISSN:0160-2527
1873-6386
DOI:10.1016/j.ijlp.2014.02.020