Real-Life Communication
You are helping a close friend who has been in trouble with the
law. He wants you to join him at a meeting with his parole officer. He finds
her language confusing and he's hoping you can help him figure out what she's
saying. Check out some of these key terms that parole officers use, then see
if you can make sense of what the parole officer says.
Terms and
Definitions
- Case conference: A meeting between a parole officer and their supervisor
to talk about how an offender is doing with their parole conditions.
- Felony: Serious offenses like murder or rape are considered felonies.
Crimes that are commonly punished by a prison sentence of more than one year
are often felonies.
- Misdemeanor: Offenses that are less than a felony.
- Community control: A form of court-ordered supervision that is
very intensive and is used instead of sending an offender to prison. Under
community control, the offender is partially confined to their home, has several
contacts every month by parole officers, and may have an electronic monitoring
device attached to them.
- Intervention: When there has been a possible parole violation by
an offender, the parole officer (or parole board or parole supervisor) can
do an intervention, which provides support, guidance and, if appropriate,
treatment to the offender. The aim is to create a change so the violation
doesn't happen again.
- Administrative probation: In a way, it's on the opposite side of
the spectrum of community control. It's a non-contact form of supervision
that requires low-risk offenders to comply with laws, but no other restrictions
are placed on offenders.
Here's what your friend's parole officer has to say:
"Well,
we've had a few case conferences lately about Shawn, whom I understand is
a close friend of yours. Great. Well, there's good news and bad news. First,
the bad news.
We had to stage an intervention as Shawn recently was
seen using drugs. This was a direct violation of his parole terms. We're feeling
pretty confident that it was a one-time slip-up, but it's not going to help
him any.
Look, things aren't going to get so bad that we need to use
community control supervision. If anything, it'd lean more towards administrative
probation. We just need to make sure he doesn't slip up again.
What
Shawn did to get himself in this mess in the first place was a misdemeanor,
not a felony. I firmly believe he's a good guy who's made some bad decisions.
We have another case conference coming up, and I'm really going to campaign
for him, as I believe he's trying hard. The one slip-up was just one slip-up,
and as long as he stays on the path he's on, it should be all good."
Shawn
looks confused. What did the parole officer say?