Informational Interview with Curt Hare United States Federal Probation By: Connie Cummings

What is United States Federal Probation? In 1925, the Federal Probation Act was introduced by Senator Copeland as S.1042 and Representative Graham as H.R The U.S. Senate passed in unanimously but the House passed the law by a vote of 170 in favor and 49 opposed. On March 4, 1925, President Calvin Coolidge, a former Governor of Massachusetts and very familiar with the benefits of a functioning probation system, signed the bill in law. This Act gave the U.S. Courts the power to appoint Federal Probation Officers and authority to sentence defendants to probation instead of a prison sentence. It later gave U.S. Probation Officers the responsibility of supervising offenders granted parole by the United States Parole Commission, military offenders and pretrial supervision. The responsibility of the United States Probation service was first under the United States Department of Justice, under the supervising authority of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, however, in 1940 the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts was established and assumed the responsibility.Calvin CoolidgeGovernor of MassachusettsparoleUnited States Parole CommissionUnited States Department of JusticeFederal Bureau of PrisonsAdministrative Office of the U.S. Courts U.S. Pretrial Services came along more than 50 years later, in 1982, with the Pre trial service Act of It was developed as a means to reduce both crimes committed by persons released into the community pending trial and unnecessary pretrial detention.

United States Federal Probation Officer’s General Duties In the 94 federal judicial districts nationwide, U.S. probation officers play an integral role in the administration of justice. Probation officers serve as the community corrections arm of the federal court system. They provide to the court two important services: investigation and supervision. U.S. probation officers make an important contribution to the federal criminal justice process. Their mission is to investigate and supervise offenders whom the courts have conditionally released to the community on probation, parole, or supervised release. By serving as the court's fact- finder, controlling the risk offenders may pose to public safety, and providing offenders with correctional treatment, officers help ensure that persons previously convicted of crime obey the law rather than commit further crime. Officers' responsibilities require them to work not only with federal judges and other court professionals, but with U.S. attorneys, defense attorneys, Federal Bureau of Prisons and U.S. Parole Commission officials, state and local law enforcement agents, treatment providers, and community leaders. Officers deliver services that benefit the court, the community, and the offender.

Some of Mr. Hare’s specific job duties: COMMUNITY SAFTEY For those on Federal Probation: – Supervise court orders for pre-trial and post conviction offenders. There are generally 13 standard conditions that must be met as well as any “special conditions” which would be unique to each case. Mr. Hare has to make sure that each of the 13 conditions of release are met. – Facilitate Mental Health Counseling, Drug and Alcohol Counseling and Sex Offender Counseling as needed. – Monitor the Electronic Monitors for the offenders with a significant criminal history. – Man the telephone for crisis calls. – PAPERWORK: To record any and all monitoring, gather reports from the different treatment providers, FBI and other federal reports. – hours of Field work per month which consists of making contact with the offenders on his caseload while they are in the community. – Make court appearances as well as make reports to the court.

Pro’s and Con’s of the Job: Mr. Hare’s favorite part of his job is what he calls: “Offender Management”. He enjoys being part of their lives, helping to facilitate positive change. Mr. Hare’s least favorite part of his job is all of the paperwork that goes along with working for the government. He also dislikes and the fact that he cannot utilize the authority granted to him because of his job title because of the bureaucratic politics

What is the cause of abuse? Mr. Hare feels that child, elder and domestic violence abuse stems from a loss of social and moral values. He stated that there is significant loss in the structure of family and that the line between what is right and what is wrong has become blurred.

Is there a correlation between individuals on probation and abuse? Mr. Hare stated that it is not unusual to see a correlation between offenders who have significant drug and alcohol issues also be abusive. However, the majority of those on probation do not have a history of abuse.

Do you have a protocol of how to intervene when you know there is a history of abuse? Mr. Hare stated that in all instances, if there is a history of violence and someone is just getting out of prison and starting probation, they always inform or remind the wife, girlfriend, potential wife or potential girlfriend of this history of violence. He said that very rarely did this information deter the relationship, however.

How do you feel that abuse can be prevented? Mr. Hare is not sure that abuse can be prevented. He believes that there must be accountability not only for perpetrator's but also for victims. He feels that those coming back into a relationship with an abuser or beginning one have been warned and cannot be shocked or surprised if this abuse happens with them. Mr. Hare said that abusers must have hard consequences but that the abused also need to take action and follow the warnings.

Do you have any advise for future social workers regarding abuse or neglect? Help to empower those victims who are not strong enough to protect themselves. Have compassion for the abuser so they can also receive help.

Conclusion I enjoyed visiting with Mr. Hare. We agree on a lot of things specifically that the social ills in our present day stem from the lack of importance placed on the good old fashioned family morals and values. Overall, I appreciated his insight and all that he does in his job capacity. I think that it would be difficult working with this population as there does not seem to be a lot of success seen in regards to people making better choices to completely change their lives for the better. Before I began this interview, I thought that there would be a very high number of people who were on probation and have a history of some form of abuse. I was pleasantly surprised and happy to discover this was not correct. Like we have learned throughout this semester, there is a high correlation between drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence, child abuse and neglect so perhaps if we could lower the occurrence of drug and alcohol abuse, the others would naturally lower also. There will always be some abuse taking place because not everyone’s operating under the same mental capacity but if we could take every opportunity to not have our ability to choose compromised, I think our abuse numbers would go down.