Probation Of Offenders Act Essay

PROBATION IN THE INDIAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

The turn of corrective thoughts in new direction in the 19th century was not accidental happening but the century itself was of intellectual adventure and of consequent social change. The intellectual renaissance led to the society’s realization that society is also directly or indirectly, responsible for the persons committing crimes, and a gradual thought of reformation of criminals started budding. Revenge the retaliation was no longer the chief aims, the law had to the larger mission than to coerce the criminal and force him by severity to mend his ways.1 Probation is one of the ways for reformation of criminals.
The word Probation is of Latin origin, and is derived from the Latin word ‘probatio’. It means to test, to prove and to try. It means “a system of proving, or examining, investigation and supervising a child brought to court for treatment. It is a definite follow system for court cases with developing technique. But it is more than that. It is a mission actuated by the highest ideals of human helpfulness and social services towards those in need.”2 This essay will critically examine whether the Probation of Offender’s Act, 1958, an Indian Statue which was passed by the Indian Parliament to provide opportunities and guidance to young and first offenders instead of committing them to jail, has met its

the United Nations technical assistance headed by Dr. W. C. Reckless sought by the Government of India and the appointment of All India Jail Manual Committee in 1947. On the advice of Dr. Reckless, Probation Conference was held at Bombay in 1952. The All India Jail Manual Committee, in their report paragraph 135, has recommended that Probation should be more extensively used and each State should organize a wide network of probation services. In this historical perspective and the long felt need emerged the Probation of Offenders Act,