Efficiency dimensions of the Probation System: A need for review of the Role of the West Bengal Probation Officers in India

Abstract

The Probation Officers play a pivotal role in bringing the probationers into the mainstream of life by extending such cooperation and mental support which help them re-socialize into the society. The only objective is to make the released offendersable citizens with all the means to sustain their life. But in reality, the picture is all the more depressing. The Probation Officers in West Bengal though designated as ‘Probation & After Care Officers’ they are already pre-occupied with other tasks different from what is envisaged under the Probation of Offender’s Act, 1958. They now have to perform varied functions along with the supervision of the probationers which make them overburdened and that too with limited resources and fund. The economic support is also grim which make their task all the more difficult and hectic, thereby failing to upholdthe very essence of Probation, which is meant to be one of the viable means of reformation as opposed to incarceration. The author in the present paper has tried to highlight the plight of these Probation Officers in the State as to how far they are able to uphold the efficiency of the Probation system as a means of reformation with less resource and limited scope of proper implementation of the Act.