San Rafael, CA – Monitoring and supervising individuals who are past offenders of the law can take many forms, including home contacts, drug testing, counseling sessions, and helping clients to find suitable housing and employment. The work is an essential factor in the criminal justice system.
Marin County Probation officers provide supervision to adults and juveniles who require guidance in leading a law-abiding life.The Marin County Probation Department, along with probation and juvenile detention departments across the U.S. and Canada, are observing Pretrial, Probation, and Parole Supervision Week from July 18 to July 24. The Marin County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution July 20 to pay tribute to those working in those fields and supporting the rehabilitative process. There are more than 4 million adults on community supervision today in America, and most are monitored by almost 100,000 pretrial, probation, and parole officers carefully balancing direct human services with research-based interventions.
Marin County Probation provides supervision to adults and juveniles who require guidance in leading a law-abiding life according to agreed-upon terms of probation. For the most part, those services continued during the COVID-19 pandemic, adapting to make operations as safe as possible from a public health standpoint for both the officers and the offenders.
County Probation Chief Marlon Washington said his staff delivered recidivism-reducing resources and programs to clients, conducted treatment groups in-person and through technology, and continued with home visits and other public safety interventions. Marin Probation also participated in community events to support the various efforts and provided around-the-clock care for youths in custody. All those efforts are designed to create hope for offenders and their families, restore trust, and achieve sustainable safety for communities.
“Through the pandemic, Probation rose to the challenge and learned new innovative ways to engage clients and promote community safety,” Washington said. “I would be remiss not to mention the incredible work of the staff as they were called on as disaster service workers, serving in roles to directly respond to our public health emergency. They not only made a difference in the lives of the individuals we serve, but they made a lasting impact on the community as a whole. I am honored to lead the Probation Department and wanted to acknowledge our agency as we observe this week.”