AGY-2109 | Adult Probation Service

Full description

The Adult Probation Service was established on 30 July 1951 to prepare and present pre-sentence reports principally in Courts of Petty Session and to supervise and provide guidance to offenders released by the Courts on recognisances containing a special provision for probation supervision.(1) The pre-sentence reports conveyed to the Court a detailed personal and social background of offenders guilty of indictable offences. The Service began with one Senior Probation Officer and five Probation Officers and was expanded with the appointment of five Trainee Probation Officers in May 1952.(2) The Adult Probation Service was a branch of the Department of Attorney-General and reported to the Public Service Board. An increasing prison population led to a slow expansion of the Service throughout the 1950s, and there continued to be a shortage of staff. As a result, the level of pre-sentence work was reduced to allow staff to concentrate on the supervision of offenders.(3) By 1970, newly recruited trainee Adult Probation Officers underwent an in-service training course in addition to university study. Although trainees studied a variety of courses, the most common courses were the Degree of Social Work at the University of New South Wales and the Degree of Social Studies at the University of Sydney.(4) By 1969, the Adult Probation Service was reallocated from the Department of Attorney General to the Department of Corrective Services.(5) The Service continued to operate separately from the Parole Office although integrated Probation and Parole services were carried out by the Resident Parole Officer in the Gosford district.(6) Increased integration of the activities of the Probation and Parole Services led to the establishment of joint offices in Newcastle and Wollongong during 1969-70.(7) In 1973 the Adult Probation Service and the Parole Office were amalgamated by the Department of Corrective Services. FOOTNOTES 1. Annual Report to the Public Service Board under Regulation 32 for the year ended 1956, 9 July 1957, State Records reference number 12/1255. 2. loc.cit. 3. loc.cit. 4. Department of Corrective Services Annual Report, 1969 - 1970, p. 11. 5. ibid., p. 12. 6. loc.cit. 7. loc.cit.