Shift from Incarceration Adds to Challenges for County Probation Agencies
By Joe Mahoney
Contributing Author
New York's county probation departments have steadily seen their responsibilities increase even as state Aid to Localities funding for the services they provide has remained flat.
Probation administrators say the state's reluctance to pony up for the essential services being provided by county governments has contributed to a system under stress, with probation officers attempting to monitor both adults and juveniles, who have been convicted or accused of a wide variety of criminal offenses.
Over the past 15 years, the state government has closed numerous adult prisons and former state Division for Youth secure detention sites as part of a shift that has resulted in more offenders being released under community-based programs. During this time, probation agencies have been dealing with a more challenging population of people under court-imposed supervision requirements.
"We are definitely seeing an uptrend in serious cases," said Timothy Davidian, director of the Orange County Probation Department.
The state's Raise the Age initiative -- which increased the age of criminal responsibility to 18 and was aimed at keeping young offenders out of adult prisons -- has resulted in more 16- and 17-year-old offenders being placed under the supervision of probation departments.
"We're now treating an older population of youths as adolescent offenders," Davidian noted. "And most of the time those cases are pretty serious. There are weapons cases and people who have been arrested for serious assaults. But we just don't have enough detention beds throughout the state."
Alan Frisbee, director of the Greene County Probation Department and president of the New York State Council of Probation Administrators, said state officials rushed ahead with implementing Raise the Age before state agencies had lined up sufficient housing for youths requiring secure placements.
"The state totally dropped the ball with this," Frisbee said from his county office in Catskill. "It's our belief the state just does not want to see people locked up, kids in particular.
The lack of adequate beds for youths, according to both Frisbee and Davidian, has resulted in those adolescents often having to be transported for many miles from their home counties for placement, adding to the costs faced by counties.
Raise the Age has also triggered public safety concerns.
County probation administrators, agreeing with the state District Attorneys Association of the State of New York, are advocating for revisions to the Raise the Age statute that would keep many firearms offenses by adolescents from being sent to Family Court, citing the potential for youths to become involved in more serious crimes.
The probation administrators are also calling for the closure of what has been dubbed "the robbery loophole," one that prevents prosecutors from trying a case if a weapon allegedly used by a youth was unloaded, not working or never recovered.
Meanwhile, duties of probation officials expanded under Leandra's Law, which requires ignition interlock devices for all motor vehicles operated by those convicted of driving while intoxicated. The local probation officers perform the monitoring and supervision of the interlock devices.
Probation departments don't get to pick the clientele they service.
Those individuals are under court order to be supervised by probation officers. According to a research report issued this year by the Pew Charitable Trusts, adults on probation are more than twice as likely to have a serious or moderate mental illness as those in the general public.
Meanwhile, the state's strategy of reducing reliance on prisons to punish offenders while favoring an expansion of alternatives to incarceration has increased the number of convicted felons in the population of individuals under probation supervision.
Probation administrators say this has added to the stresses of those working in the field of probation.
A job once considered to be more oriented to social work has taken on additional law enforcement dimensions, with officers not infrequently finding themselves in potentially risky situations as they oversee individuals whose rap sheets can include violent felonies, domestic abuse, grand larceny and trafficking in dangerous narcotics.
"We've always seen serious cases but with the closing of state prisons and Raise the Age we're seeing a lot more," Davidian said. "While a lot of sex offenders do go to state prison, the reality is there are times when a county court judge would prefer to have a sex offender on probation, because this way you're watching the guy for 10 years on a felony sex offense and so the person is being watched for a longer period, and the thought process being that is safer for the community."
The state prison population has fallen from 72,649 incarcerated individuals in 1999 to 33,351 this summer. Meanwhile, the administration of Gov. Kathy Hochul has announced that two additional maximum security prisons -- Great Meadow and Sullivan -- are slated for closure in November.
But the added responsibilities imposed on probation departments has not been accompanied by any substantial increase in financial support from the state government. The recent cashless bail requirements in the criminal justice system has decreased county jail populations while resulting in more individuals getting pretrial services from probation.
Ryan Gregoire, the legislative director for the New York State Association of Counties, commented: "For over a decade now, probation departments have not seen any increase in their Aid to Localities appropriation. However, there have been a lot of changes in probation's role and responsibility in the community."
"Many probation departments are now providing pretrial services," Gregoire added. "They are providing assistance with new kinds of courts, such as drug and other kinds of treatment courts. They are also responsible for all of the electronic monitoring and all of the monitoring of sex offenders and folks arrested for DWI. They also do home visits with CPS (Child Protective Services.) A lot of that caseload crosses over between Probation and the Department of Social Services."
Gregoire said increasing the state aid to probation departments is a significant priority for NYSAC.
He also said there will be efforts to address recruitment and retention of personnel challenges now being faced by local probation departments.
Meanwhile, Frisbee said the state government should ensure counties have adequate detention facilities for young offenders who can no longer be housed in prisons due to the changes that accompanied the Raise the Age legislation.
He suggested the state could utilize state buildings that have been taken out of commission.
"This is not something that should be foisted back on the counties," Frisbee said.
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