KCSCD - Basic Rules for Volunteers and Interns

WHAT IS PROBATION

Community based corrections is recognized as having the greatest potential for the effective rehabilitation of the offender and for the control of crime. The causes of crime are many and they lie within the community. Some offenders need to be sent to prison, but the majority could be rehabilitated in the community. When an offender is founded guilty and placed on probation by the Judge rather than sent to prison, he remains in the community, lives at home if possible and carries out his normal daily activities under the supervision of a Probation Officer. If the offender does not abide by the rules the Judge prescribes, he goes to jail or prison to serve his sentence.

ADVANTAGES OF PROBATION

The advantages of probation over imprisonment are many. It is a much less expensive method of dealing with the offender. The cost of keeping a man in prison for one year is about ten times the cost of maintaining him on probation. This does not include wages and taxes lost, or the cost of welfare to support a family which has lost its breadwinner. A person on probation is more able to make restitution to the victim than is a person in prison. Rehabilitation is more effective when the offender does not lose his contracts with the community.

Home> Volunteer and Internships> Definition and Advantages

<<Back -- Home -- Next>>