NCJ Number
148778
Date Published
Unknown
Length
139 pages
Annotation
This report examines the views and experiences of community groups and individuals involved with offenders in New Zealand with respect to their relationships to the Probation Service and offenders.
Abstract
The participants were identified in an earlier study as having had contact with the Probation Service with respect to the administration of community-based sentences and parole between July and December 1988. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire survey followed by a small number of individuals that examined in depth some of the issues highlighted in the questionnaire. Results revealed that two-thirds of the sponsors originally heard about working with offenders through a personal approach from the probation service. One-fifth of the group sponsors had no paid staff and relied solely on volunteers. Maori sponsors relied more heavily on volunteers than did Pakeha sponsors. Nearly three-quarters of the sponsors were involved with offenders on community service, just over half with community care and supervision, and 37 percent with parole. Counseling, training and skill development, and supervision were the main functions provided by sponsors. Lack of funding was a broad concern, as was the lack of predictability and regularity of current types of funding. One-fourth of the sponsors indicated dissatisfaction with their amount of contact with the Probation Service. The interviewed sponsors recognized that many of the problems mentioned were the result of constraints on the Probation Service, especially their high workloads. Discussion of additional problems, appended methodological information and additional results, and 5 references