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Probation is the most commonly imposed correctional sanction, is often accompanied by supplementary costs, and can be operated by the state or private companies. Private probation is a unique sanction used in lower courts, most often for misdemeanor offenses, and is managed by third-party actors. We focus on documenting the process and unique costs of private probation, including the rituals of compliance and proportionality of punishment. We use data from interviews with individuals on private probation and local criminal justice officials as well as evidence from court ethnographies in Georgia and Missouri. For individuals on private probation, payment of monetary sanctions is a crucial way of demonstrating compliance. Yet the financial burden of added costs for supervision and monitoring creates substantial challenges.

It is well known that family socioeconomic background influences childhood access to opportunities. Educational reforms that introduce new information about school quality may lead to increased inequality if families with more resources are better able to respond. However, these policies can also level the playing field for choice by equalizing disadvantaged families' access to information. This study assesses how a novel accountability system affected family enrollment decisions in the Chicago Public Schools by introducing new test performance information and consequences. We show that a substantial proportion of families responded by transferring out when their child's school was assigned \"probation.\" Poor families transferred children to other schools in the district, but at a lower rate than non-poor families, who were also more likely to leave for another district or enroll in private school. Most striking, we show that despite family response to the probation label, access to higher-performing schools changed very little under the new policy; students who left probation schools were the most likely of all transfer students to enroll in other low-performing schools in the district. Although new information changed families' behavior, it did not address contextual and resource-dependent factors that constrain the educational decisions of poor families.

This study examines the effectiveness of court-appointed lawyers in comparison to private attorneys within China’s criminal justice system, focusing on the “Lawyers for All” program. Utilizing data from Guangdong courts between 2018 and 2021 and covering five types of crimes, the research employs propensity score matching to evaluate sentencing lengths and probation rates. The findings indicate that defendants represented by court-appointed lawyers typically receive shorter sentences than those with private counsel, but they are less likely to be granted probation. Additionally, an innovative metric—“actual time served in prison”—suggests a reduced incarceration period for defendants with court-appointed attorneys. The study proposes that the collaborative role of court-appointed lawyers within the Chinese courtroom workgroup potentially influences these outcomes, contrasting with the adversarial nature of private attorneys. This analysis contributes to the broader understanding of legal representation in authoritarian regimes, highlighting the unique dynamics within China’s legal system.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe a sustainable free laser tattoo removal clinic for economically disadvantaged adult probationers.Design/methodology/approachThis paper describes the partnerships, methods and challenges/lessons learned from the implementation of a free monthly laser tattoo removal program for adult probationers within a medical school setting in California.FindingsPossible patients are identified via a collaboration with the county’s Probation Department. Founded in 2016, this monthly program has provided tattoo removal services to >37 adult patient probationers, many of whom receive follow-up treatments. Clients seek to remove about four blue/black ink tattoos. Since its inception, 23 dermatology residents have volunteered in the program. Challenges to patients’ ongoing participation primarily pertain to scheduling issues; strategies for overcoming barriers to participation are provided. No safety concerns have emerged.Social implicationsPrograms such as this public-private partnership may benefit probationers by eliminating financial barriers associated with tattoo removal. This model supports the training of cohorts of dermatologists seeking community service opportunities related to laser medicine. Others seeking to implement a similar program may also consider expanding treatment days/times to facilitate access for working probationers, providing enrollment options for other health and social services (e.g. public insurance, food stamp programs) and hosting a mobile onsite clinic to address clients’ physical and mental health needs.Originality/valueThis paper describes a unique collaboration between law enforcement and a medical school and it may assist other jurisdictions in establishing free tattoo removal programs for the benefit of probationers. The methods described overcome challenges regarding the implementation of this specialized clinical service.

Parole laws, passed by most state legislatures at the turn of the century, provide for the release of prisoners before the expiration of their maximum sentence and for their supervision during their transition to free society. This article explores the early years of the parole system in Illinois. While the Illinois parole law indicated that parole agents would watch over ex-prisoners and aid in their rehabilitation, the state instead relied on private individuals, businesses, and voluntary organizations to supervise parolees. Agreements forged between prison officials and these supervisors illustrate the extent to which the private sector took on the functions of the state during the Progressive Era. As a result, employers and voluntary organizations developed a range of surveillance practices to maintain control over former prisoners, using informal systems of assessment and notions of success to evaluate the parolees in their charge. Though the parole system represented innovation on the part of the Illinois state government—a nod to emergent rehabilitative frameworks in penology—the reliance on voluntary organizations and businesses wove older class and gender ideals into this newer, purportedly more scientific and objective institution. This essay illuminates the everyday challenges of life on parole, tracing the experiences of ex-prisoners during the process of reentry and exposing the constant negotiations between employers, voluntary organizations, prisons, and parolees.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of work as a means of desisting from crime among a group of male probationers.Design methodology approach - Semi-structured interviews were conducted with male probationers to ascertain their views on desistance from crime and the factors which would enable or constrain them in their endeavours.Findings - The research found that individuals regard employment as a key conduit to maintaining desistance from crime, but that several barriers exist to achieving this? Crucially, the research found that individuals identified various difficulties associated with external agencies to whom they had been referred for assistance in obtaining employment. This poses questions of the current government's approach towards expanding public-private partnerships in probation.Research limitations implications - The research is based on a small sample of 20 male probationers. However, the findings suggest that further research should be conducted in this area.Social implications - The research raises questions about recent government policy in this area, and about the effectiveness of some approaches designed to reduce reoffending.Originality value - The research examines an area of desistance which has previously received little attention. The findings are of concern for academics and practitioners concerned with desistance and recidivism.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the ways in which contemporary organisations are imposing their own private sanctions on fraudsters. Design/methodology/approach – The research draws on primary data from interviews with counter fraud practitioners in the UK, secondary sources and case examples. Findings – Such developments have been stimulated, at least in part, by the broader limitations of the criminal justice system and in particular a “fraud bottleneck”. Alongside criminal sanctions, many examples are provided of organisations employing private prosecutions innovative forms of civil sanction and “pseudo state” sanctions, most commonly civil penalties comparable to fines. Research limitations/implications – Such changes could mark the beginning of the “rebirth of private prosecution” and the further expansion of private punishment. Growing private involvement in state sanctions and the development of private sanctions represents a risk to traditional guarantees of justice. There are differences in which comparable frauds are dealt with by corporate bodies and thus considerable inconsistency in sanctions imposed. In contrast with criminal justice measures, there is no rehabilitative element to private sanctions. More research is needed to assess the extent of such measures, and establish what is happening, the wider social implications, and whether greater state regulation is needed. Practical implications – Private sanctions for fraud are likely to continue to grow, as organisations pursue their own measures rather than relying on increasingly over-stretched criminal justice systems. Their emergence, extent and implications are not fully understood by researchers and therefore need much more research, consideration and debate. These private measures need to be more actively recognised by criminal justice policy-makers and analysts alongside the already substantial formal involvement of the private sector in punishment through prisons, electronic tagging and probation, for example. Such measures lack the checks and balances, and greater degree of consistency as laid out in sentencing guidelines, of the criminal justice system. In light of this, consideration needs to be given to greater state regulation of private sanctions for fraud. More also needs to be done to help fraudsters suffering problems such as debt or addiction to rebuild their lives. There is a strong case for measures beyond the criminal justice system to support such fraudsters to be created and publicly promoted. Originality/value – The findings are of relevance to criminal justice policy-makers, academics and counter fraud practitioners in the public and private sectors.

When residents of Ferguson, MO, took to the streets last August to protest the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager killed by a white police officer, the events dramatically exposed an image of modern policing that most Americans rarely see: columns of police pointing military weaponry at peaceful protestors. But the on-going tension between residents and police in Ferguson was also indicative of another, less visual development in how the police are used to oppress impoverished communities: using law enforcement to extract revenue from the poor. In the late 1980s, Missouri became one of the first states to let private companies purchase the probation systems of local governments. In these arrangements, municipalities impose debt on individuals through criminal proceedings and then sell this debt to private business, which pad the debt with fees and interest. Widespread hostility toward Ferguson's municipal court is the tinder that helped set the town on fire after Brown was killed.

Constitutional Claims & Civil Rights Student appealed school board decision alleging Due Process violation. An association asserted that the school district's bathroom policy, which allowed transgender students to use a bathroom of their choosing, violated Title IX, the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and other fundamental rights, including that of parents to direct the upbringing of their children. Additionally, the teacher argued the district needed to comply with Pennsylvania's Sunshine Act, which meant addressing reinstatement through the School Reform Commission at an open meeting, in order to comply with the Due Process Clause. A school board appointed other candidates from a list organized by length of service over a long-term substitute teacher on the basis that substitute work did not count towards length of service.

Public-private partnerships (PPP) for reentry and employment are helping to reduce barriers for transitional training and sustainable job opportunities for ex-offenders that are consistent with local labor markets, while advocating for policies and programs that strengthen communities and improve public safety. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the organizational and psychosocial factors relating to the efforts of the 15 award recipients and community affiliates, including former offenders who participated in the programs, of the June 30, 2014 White House Champions of Change: Reentry and Employment Program who have formed partnerships with State’s correctional systems, private sector businesses and community non-profit organizations for the purpose of improving access to job training and employment for ex-offenders. This study suggests that strengthening vital partnerships between public-sector, private sector, and non-profit community affiliates can help to advance innovative strategies in the facilitation of training and employment opportunities for ex-offenders. Process questions were developed based on three main phases along a continuum: (a) barriers, (b) advocacy, and (c) employment. The high ratings associated with the barriers and advocacy phases of the model offers a schema for understanding the creative connections of internal resources and external supports between public-private partnerships (PPP) of correctional services, employers, and non-profit community affiliates. Together, these findings suggest that public-private partnerships (PPP) for reentry and employment are helping to reduce barriers for transitional training and sustainable job opportunities for ex-offenders that are consistent with local labor markets, while advocating for policies and programs that strengthen communities and improve public safety.