Dr. Abdul Hakim Sarker
Professor and Director, Institute of Social Welfare & Research,
Dhaka University, Dhaka
.
Introduction
Probation as a correctional program, in Bangladesh, came into
existence through the promulgation of the probation of Offenders
Ordinance in 1960. During second 5 - year Plan period, two projects:
Probation of Offenders project and After Care Service Project
were initiated (in 1962). At the beginning, these programs were
started separately in ten places in the country. Later in 1965,
these two projects were merged into an integrated one and since
then 21 units have been in operation in 21 district headquarters
(mainly old) under the management of Social Service Department,
Government of Bangladesh. It ma be mentioned that the Probation
of Offenders Ordinance 1960 primarily indicated, by definition,
that there would remain a 'Probation Department" responsible
for the administration of the Ordinance. The probation Officer,
who would be working for the purpose, was to be appointed by
the said probation department and whose qualifications would
be prescribed by the rules under the Ordinance.
After an amendment by the erstwhile East Pakistan Assembly in
1964 the Ordinance was turned into an Act, 1964. By this amendment,
the responsibility of administering probation service rests with
the Directorate of Social Welfare (now Social Service Department).
Accordingly, the Social Service Department has been administering
the program of probation along with its manifold services related
to casework, group work, community development and general welfare.
Existing Plight of Probation Service
The probation, though important from legal, human and social
viewpoints, is a relatively sick program compared to other programs
of the Department. The season as it may readily be identified,
is linked somewhere with the autonomy of overall administration
of the program. Probation is explicitly an extended court function.
We know that the Probation Act has empowered, aside from juvenile
court of sessions and magistrate (of the first class) courts
to exercise power in deciding cases for probation. So, granting
probation to an offender is basically a function of the court.
Contrawise, the Social Service Department is to entertain the
client placed on probation for helping him restore, acquire personal
quality for social adjustment through certain processes of casework.
Now, it becomes clear that the efficacy of probation service
greatly depends on the nature and degree of relationship between
the judiciary and the Social Service Department in charge of
administering probation service.
Ours is an oriental society and we are being oriented to many
new ideas and concepts through inconsistent and differential
processes. As natural consequences, there remain variations in
our attitude towards certain things and so also prevail in the
treatment process. Incidentally probation is one of such things,
which claims to be measured first in terms of the attitude held
by the departments involved in the process. As has been indicated,
probation is a regular service of particular interest of the
Department of Social Service whereas it seems to be an added
function of the court. As if, it is an egg, the lay of which
depends on the voluntary will of the court.
In addition, the need for sincere and unequivocal support of
the police (including prison authority) and the private efforts
for correction cannot be ignored. After all, all concerned departments
must come to an agreement both in attitude and in commitment
to making the probation drive a success.
However, based on common observation and on informal interview
with the probation officers, some problems related to the execution
of probation program are listed below in a bit descriptive form:
(a) It is an admitted fact that for proper implementation of
any Act there should be 'rules' spelling out the whole work process
and functions to be carried out. In case of probation Act no
such rules are made by the Government for the purpose of carrying
into effect the provisions involved in it. As a consequence,
the court has no clear guidance about the referral of cases to
the probation officer.
(b) Since the functions of a probation officer encompass court,
prison and the client (probationer) the office of the probation
should have been somewhere in the court premises. Because, a
close and regular contact with the court is a must for picking
up the suitable cases likely to be placed by the court on probation
calling for pre-sentence investigation.
(c) For the purpose of granting probation interview with the
under trial prisoners is a vital part of the probation-function.
The officer has to face, in this connection, certain difficulties
relating to physical facility and in respect of cooperation expected
to be available from the prison authority.
(d) A probation officer has been posted to a regular (old) district
headquarter and the jurisdiction of his work is the whole of
the district. The staffing pattern of the probation office in
very inadequate both in size and quality. The probation officer
has no field workers to assist him, not even an office assistant.
It is, however, understood from a source that the probation and
after care service have been added to Rural Social Service Programs
(RSS) in 258 upazilas. The concerned upazila officers are to
take care of this program.
(e) The probation is relatively uncared program of the Social
Service Department than other programs. Administration of this
program is in many ways weak and haphazard due to lack of proper
guidelines and plan of action. The administrators of this program
at the headquarter are or were never well oriented, trained or
keenly interested to work out of proper strategy for implementing
the program. The supervision work is also highly irregular and
unsystematic. It is evident from the poor volume of statistics
of cases under a probation officer.
(f) There remains a status conflict between the magistrate and
the probation officer. The probation officer officially does
not posses the status as the magistrate does. The question of
the status consciousness becomes prominent because of the fact
that they represent two different agencies but one intervenes
in other's function. As has been indicated above, due to lack
of general awareness about the matter and for want of spelled
out legal bindings the nature of this relationship continues
to exist as such. As a result, the probation officer has to take
interest unilaterally and most often go for motivating the magistrate
about probation without an unjust cause.
(g) It is reported that most of the probationer there should
be the provision for female probation officer. A male officer
has to face some practical difficulties in rapport building,
guidance and supervision of female probationer. In a tradition
bound society like ours we can easily conceive of the difficulties.
(h) It is reported that most of the probationers come from poverty
stricken families. Any rehabilitation programs for them immediately
necessities some sort of economic support. But, in view of this
immediate need, there is no provision for giving monitory assistance
in the Departmental Program. Besides, there is no such institutional
agreement by means of which the probationers could be helped
to ratify themselves through some occupational therapy.
(i) The probation officer has to run simultaneously 'after care
service' alongwith probation. It is, according to them, difficult
in practice to organize and manage both the programs, at a time
effectively. As a consequence, neither probation nor the after
care service has attained any satisfactory standard.
(j) Social Service Department being an agency of multipurpose
and multilateral programs often engages the probation officer
in other types of activities on the plea and contention that
the said officer is relatively free in his own domain of work.
(k) Probation is highly a professionally skilled service. Therefore,
the personnel who would remain associated with this service must
have adequate knowledge, skills and expertise about probation.
But, the Social service Department has no definite policy to
recruit personnel for this specialized job. Persons of diverse
academic background are now in charge of probation yielding an
inconsistent contribution to it.
Present Imperatives
It is an undenying fact that probation is a consistently coordinated
effort. As probation originated in the suspended sentence and
is an extension of the judicial function the major control of
the matter lies in the hands of the court. On the contrary, the
supervision of the client (probationer) is essentially an administrative
work outside court. Moreover, the police particularly the prison
authority is entangled with the probation system. So, in view
of the above circumstances and genuine importance of the service
a separate organization with the particular aim of corrections
and after care may evolve in the social -legal perspective of
the vast issue of criminal justice and crime-control. The proposed
organization may be named as 'Board of Correctional and After
Care Service' under which the entire programs for correction
of the deviants and rehabilitation of the released prisoners
may be administered. It may also be suggested, in this connection,
that by a Government Order, the proposed Board may be an autonomous
organization.
It is gratifying to note that some laws like the Bangladesh Children
Act, 1974 and the Probation of Offenders Act, 1964 entail some
significant services for greater benefit of the society which
require to be administered within a socio-legal framework of
thinking. With the overall increase of criminal incidents particularly
among the juvenile and the youth, it may be predicted that the
Government shall have to emphasize such programs in near future
by extending the number of projects and discovering new ones
like the parole.
However, to make the probation service, under discussion, effective
it is immediately essential to formulate probation rules which
were supposed to follow the probation Act for better understanding
of the pros and cons and the overall implication of the Act as
a whole by all concerned persons and agencies.
In the existing structure, a deliberate attempt should be taken
to develop a working relationship along the departments e.g.
judiciary, administrative, law enforcement and social-service
by mutually recognizing one another's role in probation. Without
mutual coherent effort, a service like probation can hardly attain
a success. It is, therefore, necessary to arrange interdepartmental
meetings at policy-maker's level and organize training programs,
workshops for better orientation of the relevant personnel in
the field.
Since crime prevention and control is one of the most vital national
program, along with the traditional legal measures, it is an
ardent necessity to discover and underscore all possible socio-legal
and social measures which may initiate, organize and order for
our purpose. In the context of aggravated crime situation of
today we need to attempt to make the existing socio-legal institutional
and non-institutional programs more viable and strongly invite
voluntary NGO efforts to initiate therapeutic rehabilitation
programs for helping the deviant persons adjust and secure honorable
settlement in the society. In this connection the foreign NGOs
may particularly be asked to direct their attention to such programs
in addition to or in lieu of their so-called welfare service.
Recruitment of the probation officer may be based on certain
policies and principles. As correctional work involves professional
service, it goes without saying that the persons dealing with
probation work should be educated in professional discipline.
Social work is such a discipline having close relations with
probation. In the advanced world professional social workers
are generally involved in probation service. So, in the context
above, it is necessary to recruit persons having the educational
background of social work/welfare. The status of the probation
officer should also be determined in equivalence with other working
partners.
The program may be extended to upazila levels. A control office
for supervising and monitoring the program activities should
be set up in each district headquarter. Staffing pattern at all
levels should be so that can ensure better service.
For professional development of probation there should be an
adequate provision for advanced training for the probation officer
in and outside the country.
Finally, it may be suggested that there should be a Training
and Research-cum-Evaluation Unit in the structural design of
the proposed Board so that training may be offered to the relevant
personnel of the concerned departments on a regular basis. Data
obtained from the field and periodical studies concerning the
status of the program may substantially contribute to the development
of indigenous training materials for the profession.
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