Essay on Probation System in U.K !
In U.K., the system of probation received statutory recognition in 1907 with the enactment of Probation of Offenders Act in that year. At Birmingham, however, a separate court for the trial of teenage criminals was established earlier in 1905. The Probation of Offenders Act, 1907 provided that an offender could be discharged on probation either after certain sentence being imposed on him or even before the imposition of the sentence. His release on probation could either be absolute or conditional, depending on his antecedents, character, age, physical and mental condition and the circumstances which prompted him to commit the offence. Probation Officers were separately appointed for adults and children.
The Act was amended in 1908 and again in 1914. With the enactment of the Criminal Justice Act 1948, probation was extended throughout England as a measure of correctional method of treatment. The entire country is divided into a number of probation areas for this purpose each having a fixed number of probation officers to help and advise the courts. Although probation for women was introduced in England at a much later stage than for adult males, but it has yielded wonderful results so far rehabilitation of female offenders is concerned.
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The Brooklyn Plan which recommended deferred prosecution for delinquents provided that a juvenile offender charged with an offence is to be admitted to probation without being convicted.
Probation of offenders has been considered as an effective method of easing pressure on prisons. The Courts are provided with an improved range of non-custodial alternatives to avoid unnecessary incarceration of offenders.
The English Criminal Justice Act, 1982, however, suggested reorganisation of Probation Committees for the purpose of redressing the situation created by House of Lord’s decision in Cullen v. Rogers. The opinion of House of Lords that there was no power to include in a probation order a requirement that the probationer should attend a day-centre caused considerable alarm.
There are at present hundreds of such centres operating in Britain. The system of probation, supervision and conditional release on licence is now practised as an effective after-care programme for treatment and rehabilitation of offenders in United Kingdom.
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In deciding whether an accused should be allowed or denied the benefit of release on probation, the English courts are generally guided by policy considerations. This contention finds support in the decision in Pickett v. Fesq wherein an elderly woman of small means pleaded guilty of a charge of having attempted to take out of the country £ 85 sterling knowing it well that she could take only £ 5 sterling under the Exchange Control Act, 1947.
She pleaded that the money had to be taken to Italy where her son was without any work and was in great financial distress. She was released on probation but in appeal it was held that respondent’s offence being a deliberate one, should not have been taken lightly by the trial court. The case was therefore, remitted to trial court with a direction that the probation order be withdrawn and respondent should be punished for the offence which related to country’s economy.