Ten models for probation supervision compared across eight dimensions

The literature on probation services for adult offenders points to significant differences in their basic assumptions, policies, and practices. It describes a variety of probational practices and offers a range of suggestions for ideal probation programs. This paper attempts to organize the range of theoretical and actual programs under ten alternative models, which differ from one another in their underlying perception of the causes of crime and philosophy of punishment, in the aims they assign to probation, the clients they envision for change and protection, their basic strategies, and the role of the probation officer. The models can serve as an aid in defining, characterizing, and comparing the wide variety of approaches to probation along the same dimensions, in locating and identifying any changes in approach, and in defining a desired probation policy or practice.