ABSTRACT
As indicated by the National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals (1973 ), probation can also refer to other functions, activities, and services. It is a status, given to the convicted offender, that falls somewhere between that of free citizen and incarcerated felon (or misdemeanant). As a subsystem of criminal justice, it refers to the agency or organization that administers the probation process. As a process, it refers to those activities that include the preparation of reports for the court, the supervision of probationers, and providing of services for those probationers. These activities are undertaken by the probation officer as a part of his or her regular duty. Finally, as Reed (1997) notes that probation can serve to lower prison populations.
