Probation

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The federal probation system dates to 1925 when President Calvin Coolidge signed into law the Probation Act. Probation had its roots in the practice of judicial reprieve which was used in English courts to serve as a temporary suspension of sentence to allow a defendant to appeal to the Crown for a pardon. The first recognized probation officer in the United States was John Augustus, a volunteer who approached a Massachusetts local court to allow "drunkards" to be placed under his direction while on bail with an understanding that the case would be dismissed upon favorable treatment by Augustus. Although for nearly a century some federal judges had engaged in the practice of a form of probation by suspending sentences of certain defendants, this practice ended in 1916 when the Supreme Court ruled in Ex parte United States, 242 U.S. 27 that federal judges had no such legal authority. A major effort to enact legislation to establish a probation system, which interestingly had to overcome the opposition of many federal judges and the Department of Justice, ensued. At the time the Probation Act became law, thirty states and at least twelve countries had already established probation systems.

From the outset, federal probation officers were charged with the responsibility of conducting investigations of any case referred to them by the Court and supervising defendants placed on probation in the community. Originally under the auspices of the Attorney General, the federal probation system was administered by the director of the Bureau of Prisons. This remained so until 1940 when responsibility for the administration of the system was transferred to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts which had been established a year earlier. Commencing in 1930, federal probation officers assumed responsibility for supervision of federal parolees who were under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice. In 1946, the federal probation system ag...