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Probation
One of the easiest ways to resolve the problem of overcrowded prisons in Pakistan is by invoking the system of probation and parole provided under the law. Probation is particularly useful in cases of offenders who are not yet committed to a life of crime. The relevant laws have existed for decades in Pakistan, where over seventy percent of the prison population consists of offenders whose sentence terms range from one month to one year. Generally, most have landed behind bars as a result of petty disputes, such as fights over land or water, or due to some family feuds. Most are devoid of any criminal characteristics: their interaction in jail with confirmed criminals and professionals only harms them rather than doing them any good.
Attempts have been made to find out and remove the various causes of crime. Once a crime is committed, the treatment of the offender becomes paramount, and endeavors should be directed more to preventing the offender committing a second offense than to his merely paying retribution for the first. Such a course is useful not only to the offender but also to the society as a whole.
Undue prison sentences are now seen as contributing, by force of contact, to making a first-time offender commit further offenses and in some cases become, ultimately, a habitual criminal. The great value of probation methods, therefore, lies in the fact that it helps to separate the raw and first-time offenders from the hardened criminals in jail.
Three Types of Offenders
Offenders can be classified into three categories.
The first group, about one-third of the total, consists of offenders who have stumbled into an offense accidentally or incidentally but find themselves on the road to recovery by realizing their fault soon after committing the offense.
The second group, almost half of the offenders, however, is the real problem. Driven by temperament, quarrels over land or water, broken homes, family troubles and other similar disputes, they are borderline offenders who must be rehabilitated. Their offenses may be serious, but their character and outlook on life are not criminal. After committing their first offense, offenders in this group can be reclaimed and recovered in a friendly atmosphere and through sympathetic supervision and guidance. It is in dealing with this group, however, that the administration generally shows neglect: far too many are sent to prison without trying other methods of care. It would be not only cruel to the offender, but also a disservice to the community to send the offender to prison if he could be dealt with more effectively and usefully through other suitable methods. The failure to provide such facilities to the deserving offender amounts to a denial of justice.
The prison system should be the last resort and only for the third group of offenders, about fifteen percent of the total, which consists of the incorrigibles, the recidivists and the hardened criminals.
An Alternative to Imprisonment
Various alternatives to imprisonment have evolved during the past century. Probation is one alternative, in which imprisonment is suspended, the final judgment is postponed or a judicial warning is issued. This gives the offender the opportunity to readjust and re-establish himself by living under normal conditions of life as a member of a healthy community environment, subject to conditions imposed by the court and under the supervision and friendly guidance of a probation officer.
The restrictions and obligations imposed on the probationer are so designed as to facilitate and promote the process of rehabilitation. This process or probationary treatment is non-punitive, but it is certainly not without a certain amount of inconvenience and hardship.
Thus, the aim of probation is social rehabilitation without punishment. But it is not merely dismissal of the charge. In probation, the punishment is only suspended and personal supervision and certain obligations and restrictions are added. The legal sanctions are behind the whole process. If the probationer does not cooperate in fulfilling the obligations, or if he commits another offense during the probationary period, the punishment of imprisonment revives.
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Home | Issues | Juvenile Justice | SPARC's Brochure on Probation | 1) | 2) | 3) |  |
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