State and County Probation: Systems in Crisis

Probation activities were reviewed to see if they were being managed effectively. GAO wanted to determine: (1) whether the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA), the States, and the county probation departments were addressing the problems of developing probation systems that insure the public's safety and enable offenders to remain in the community and receive rehabilitation services; (2) how much the services received by probationers increased their chances of successfully completing probation; (3) whether systems existed to identify individuals with good chances of completing probation and remaining out of contact with the criminal justice system and how such systems could be used to improve probation operations.