The ideology, policy and practice of adult probation service in Israel

This paper presents the findings of a study that sought to identify the dominant characteristics of the Adult probation service in Israel. An examination of the professional ideology of probation officers, the policy and the practice of the service indicated that the probation service in Israel tends to emphasize the intra-psychic treatment model. According to this model, crime is rooted in psychological causes and thus the goal of probation is to generate intra-psychic change in the offender. As such, probation officers are primarily engaged in therapy aimed at identifying the individual pathology of the probationeer and at treating it. This model of probation differs significantly from that which characterizes probation services in the UK and the USA. Various explanations are offered for this.