Profession probation officer

Probation officers supervise offenders after their release, or who were sentenced to penalties outside of incarceration. They write reports providing advice on the offender's sentence and analysis concerning possibilities of reoffense. They aid the offenders during the rehabilitation and reintegration process and ensure the offenders carry out their community service sentence when necessary.

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Personality Type

• Social / Artistic
• Social / Investigative
• Social / Enterprising

Skills

• Enable access to services

  Enable access to the different services which may be available to people with precarious legal status such as immigrants and offenders on probation in order to secure their inclusion in a facility or program, and communicate with the service providers to explain the situation and convince them of the advantages of including the individual.

• Ensure sentence execution

  Ensure, by contacting the parties involved and monitoring and handling progress and follow-up documentation, that legal sentences are followed as they were issued, such as ensuring that fines are paid, goods are confiscated or returned, and offenders are detained in the appropriate facility.

• Mentor individuals

  Mentor individuals by providing emotional support, sharing experiences and giving advice to the individual to help them in their personal development, as well as adapting the support to the specific needs of the individual and heeding their requests and expectations.

• Apply knowledge of human behaviour

  Practice principles related to group behaviour, trends in society, and influence of societal dynamics.

• Assess offenders' risk behaviour

  Assess and monitor the behaviour of offenders to gauge whether they pose any further risk to society, and what their chances for positive rehabilitation are, by assessing the environment they're in, the behaviour they show, and their efforts in rehabilitation activities.

• Reinforce positive behaviour

  Reinforce positive behaviour in people during rehabilitation and counseling activities, to ensure that the person takes the necessary actions for positive results in a positive manner, so that they remain encouraged to continue their efforts and reach goals.

• Perform risk analysis

  Identify and assess factors that may jeopardise the success of a project or threaten the organisation's functioning. Implement procedures to avoid or minimise their impact.

• Develop documentation in accordance with legal requirements

  Create professionally written content describing products, applications, components, functions or services in compliance with legal requirements and internal or external standards.

• Maintain relationship with suppliers

  Build a lasting and meaningful relationship with suppliers and service providers in order to establish a positive, profitable and enduring collaboration, co-operation and contract negotiation.

• Identify available services

  Identify the different services available for an offender during probation in order to help in the rehabilitation and re-integration process, as well as advising the offenders as to how they can identify services available to them.

• Advise on legal decisions

  Advise judges, or other officials in legal decision-making positions, on which decision would be right, compliant with the law and with moral considerations, or most advantageous for the adviser's client, in a specific case.

Optional knowledge and skills

Source: Sisyphus ODB