Calendar Year 1995 Abstract - Division of Adult Probation and Parole Section

Offenders are placed in the care of the Division of Adult Probation and Parole when they are sentenced to a suspended period of incarceration on the condition that they comply with supervision requirements. Supervision conditions range from “remain crime free” to payment of large sums of restitution and fines. All of these conditions are overseen by probation officers. The probation officer is the central link in a network of state and local resources to provide control and rehabilitation to offenders.

There are 1,324 Probation officers supervising 117,100 probationers and parolees in North Carolina. These officers attempt to coordinate a full range of treatment and control services for their charges in partnership with other agencies. These agencies include but are not limited to the Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime (TASC) Program, the Community Penalties Program, the Community Service Work Program, and local mental health providers. This partnership defines the Community Corrections Strategy developed to support the implementation of Structured Sentencing.

The Division has developed a five-step program of goals for each offender as part of the strategy. Each of the five phases is explained below.

The first and most important phase of the Division's new "community correction strategy" is targeting, a mechanism for determining individual offender profiles in order to assist the court in matching the criminal offender to the appropriate sanction. The Structured Sentencing Act defines three punishment levels to which offenders may be sentenced based on the offense seriousness and the criminal history of the offender. Punishment levels, which are graduated by severity, are Active (prison), Intermediate Punishment, and Community Punishment. The role of the Division of Adult Probation/Parole is to develop and implement a strategy that will assist the courts, at the time of sentencing, in "targeting" the appropriate sanction and matching community resources within the Intermediate and Community Punishment levels. These efforts are aimed at improving and increasing the use of the Pre-Sentence Investigation process, completing Risk/Needs assessment instruments during the court process, and fostering better coordination at sentencing with Community Penalties staff and treatment professionals. The result will be an offender profile that will assist our judiciary in targeting the correct community sanction for the offender at the time of sentencing. Furthermore, it will allow community correction agencies to match resources with offender needs.

In order for the community correction strategy to succeed offenders must be adequately controlled in the community. The first step in control, as explained above, is to "target" the appropriate sanction. Probation officers and judges, through the use of an individual profile, are able to direct appropriate offenders to one or more of the Division's alternative sanctions, such as Boot Camp, Intensive, House Arrest, or basic probation. Just as important as initial "targeting" is the Division's ability to provide all offenders with quality supervision according to their needs and risk to the community. The Division's case management system will parallel the structured sentencing punishment levels by addressing risk based on crime and criminal history and the needs of the offender. The combination of risk and needs of the offender will determine the amount of control applied by the Division during the period of supervision. For example, the highest risk/needs offender sentenced to an intermediate punishment could receive a ninety day sentence to IMPACT (Boot Camp) followed by six months Intensive Supervision at graduation. While the intent is not strictly punitive, the Division believes that more control and closer supervision will result in higher probability of success. The reason for predicting this higher success rate is the fact that smaller caseloads will allow officers more time to address the needs of each offender and to do a better job of linking the offender with available community services such as treatment, employment, and educational opportunities.

The goal of the Division is to achieve caseload caps of thirty offenders for intensive terms, sixty for Intermediate Punishment cases (High Risk Supervision) and ninety (90) for all Community Punishment cases. Finally, better control will improve the quality of supervision and allow more time for officers to link the offender with treatment resources.

With the increasingly violent nature of the offender population, treatment or rehabilitation has increased in relation to control. The demand for more punishment has driven practitioners into making control and enforcement the priority of community supervision. The Division believes an equal balance of control and treatment is necessary in order to protect society and assist the offender in becoming a productive citizen. Probation/Parole Officers have been frustrated in recent years because they have not been able to maintain this balance due to the lack of treatment resources and unmanageably large caseloads.

These factors contribute to probation/parole failures because when treatment fails, control becomes more difficult and revocation often becomes the probation/parole officer's only alternative. The Division is presently engaged in a formal planning process to identify, utilize, and expand needed community resources to treat the offender population. The goal is to form cooperative agreements with treatment agencies, (state, local, and private) in order to maximize existing resources and plan for the future. North Carolina is in need of more treatment alternatives, especially residential facilities, therapeutic communities, and Day-Reporting Centers. The North Carolina Criminal Justice Partnership Act is a major innovative effort by our state to address the needs of community correction. This act is designed to formalize state-county partnerships by developing, funding, and implementing community correction programs tailored to the needs of the criminal population in each community. Through a cooperative effort, the state will provide a funding and advisory support, while county governments will develop, plan, and implement innovative programs. Most importantly, the act will give probation/parole officers additional resources to match and meet the needs of the offender.

The fourth objective of the Division is to ensure compliance by the offender with the conditions of probation, parole, or post-release supervision. As important as verification of compliance is the officer's ability to reward or provide incentives for the offender. The case management system allows us the flexibility to decrease the level of supervision administratively, thus loosening the control and providing a measure of reward for compliance. Other available incentive options are transferring offenders to unsupervised probation and early termination.

The Structured Sentencing Act also provides a new administrative discretion where the court may delegate to the Division the authority to reduce the number of community service hours required at sentencing as a reward for positive behavior and compliance. Probation/Parole Officers are required to monitor and verify compliance through quality supervision, which entails coordination and communication with the community and other criminal justice agencies.

The last objective is the reverse of rewarding compliance: enforcing in the face of non-compliance. The Division's purpose regarding violators is to intervene with the offender to enhance public safety, promote responsible citizenship, reduce the likelihood of future criminal activity, and encourage treatment participation. In order to promote and implement an effective violation policy, the probation/parole officer and chief probation/parole officer must be selective in choosing a response which is proportional to the severity of the violations and the risks posed to the community. The Division of Adult Probation and Parole has developed a "Structured Violation Policy". The objective is to promote consistency and better utilization of the full continuum of available sanctions necessary to protect society while addressing the needs of the offenders.

Since fewer services and lower level supervision are required for probationers than for inmates, daily costs for probation are lower.

DAPP Custody Level	Per Day Cost per Inmate	Annual Cost per Inmate
Probation	$ 1.35	$ 492
Parole	$ 1.24	$ 452
House Arrest	$ 6.02	$ 2,197
Intensive	$10.75	$ 3,923