Probation as a Social Service Approach Discussion

Discussion Instructions

Thread must be 400–550 words and demonstrate course-related knowledge. In addition to the thread, the student is required to reply to 2 classmates’ threads. Each reply must be at least 150 words. Each thread must support the student’s assertions with at least 3 citations in the current APA format, and each reply must be supported by at least 2 citations.

A Sample Answer For the Assignment: Probation as a Social Service Approach Discussion

Title: Probation as a Social Service Approach Discussion

Topic: Probation as a Social Service Approach

Thread: How would a social service approach for probation be more effective in helping to reduce recidivism? What additional trainings should a probation officer receive in order to be more effective using a social service approach? This is a 2-part question.

Peer Response #1

How would a social service approach for probation be more effective in helping to reduce recidivism?

The social service approach for probation could be very effective for offenders if implemented properly as it can improve their lives and their success. Social service networks can collaborate in helping all individuals become self-sufficient and aid the overall well-being of the individuals (Hayden, 2017). According to Hayden (2017), the most popular social service professionals consist of Human Service Assistants, Probation Officers, rehabilitation counselors, school and career counselors, substance abuse counselors, health educators, and marriage or family therapists. Social services offered such as financial assistance, food stamps, medical insurance, mental health services, and home assistance are examples of available resources (Hayden, 2017). Those resources could be beneficial for offenders, especially ones reintegrating back into the community after incarceration. However, some offenders are unaware of the options available to them or do not know how to apply for such programs. Therefore, it would be helpful for offenders if probationer officers were trained or at least had connections with social service workers to provide them insight. Additionally, if probation officers were better trained to understand exactly what programs can help meet the needs of their offenders then they could better address the offenders underlying issues that have potentially caused their criminal behavior.

What additional training should a probation officer receive in order to be more effective using a social service approach?

Probation officers have several barriers or limitations in the ability to perform their role and variation occurs between staff and their performance such as limited formal training or lack of service agreements (Sirdifield, et al., 2016). Limitations on training cause issues in officer’s confidence in identifying mental illness and what referrals they should be making on behalf of the offenders (Sirdifield, et al., 2016). For example, it would be beneficial for a probation officer to know what mental health assistance programs there are in their community for offenders who struggle. In Sirdifield, et al., (2016) article, they state that probation’s role is identifying and monitoring mental illness and working in partnership with other agencies to ensure that offenders’ health and social care needs are met. In Clark, et al., (2015) study, they implemented the Impact Personality Disorder Project, which provided psychologically informed consultation and training to probation staff in certain areas. The aim of the training was to help probation staff to identify disorders, understand the links between an individual’s presentation and offending behavior, improve offender engagement, understanding access to services, and sentence planning (Clark, et al., 2015). A small team consisting of a forensic psychologist, an assistant psychologist, and a specialist probation officer were who provided the training and the results were positive in reducing recidivism (Clark, et al., 2015). This demonstrates and reiterates that proper training in resources for social services is crucial for providing the best outcomes for offenders.

Peer Response #2

The probation system is archaic, and has little change despite its growing population. Since its development decades ago, it was adopted into a government entity, and has become a law enforcement driven profession (Gideon & Sung, 2011). In recent years there has been a decline in juveniles incarcerated across the country, but there is a rise in juveniles on probation (Schwartz, 2018). Schwartz (2018) stressed the importance of changes that should be made to the probation system in the 21st century. Of the many changes that were suggested, he suggested that the overall goals of probation departments need to change. He further elaborated that probation departments need to focus on developing families and individualized plans through expectations and goals instead of a strict cookie cutter system (Schwartz, 2018). This is consistent with a social services approach because it stresses the importance of social integration and individualization. Specifically focused on the juvenile population, this group of offenders is more at risk for peer pressure related events, due to the cognitive development levels of most juvenile offenders.

What further strengthens the need for a social services approach, is that the goals of social services are similar to the evidence based goals that reduce recidivism. Three factors that have shown to decrease recidivism is to further problem solving skills and gain employment skills (Gideon and Sung, 2011). If we were to approach offenders on probation from a gentle, individualized approach we may be able to make each offender more successful. Instead of feeling forced to participate in a system that does not recognize needs of the individual.

One of the best ways to improve the probation system is by changing the way probation officers work, starting with their training. These officers have little training on personality disorders, in addition to overall mental health. It is important to understand how to recognize personality disorders within the offenders they assist. It is important that they understand that treatment and probation must be tailored to the individual in order for it to be successful, thus lowering recidivism rates. Brown et al (2018)., further reported that after training probation officers on various personality disorders they reported feeling more comfortable in identifying personality disorders among offenders, and identifying services and resources that can benefit the offender. Townsend (2020) reccomends training probation officers on identification and treatment of learning disabilties. Again, it would be easier to recognize the needs of the offender with learning disabilities if they had proper training. We cannot expect probation to do the impossible. Until they are given proper training we cannot expect them to adopt a model or mission that they are unprepared for. The training and tools provided to these critical officers, will ultimately benefit society as a whole. When offenders are successfully rehabilitated everybody wins.

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Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?

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Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.

Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.

If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.

I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.

As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

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Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:

Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.

Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• Student paper example
• Citing Sources
• The Writing Center is a great resource