An increase of 48 per cent in the number of delinquents placed on
probation in New York state during the year ending September 30, 1912,
is shown in the preliminary edition of the sixth annual report of the
State Probation Commission recently transmitted to the legislature. Over
20,000 persons were under the oversight of probation officers during the
year, and of this number 14,687 were new cases.
A review of the five years’ growth of the system since the state
commission began in 1907 is contained in the report. During this period
the number of publicly salaried probation officers has risen from
thirty-five to 159 at the beginning of the present year. The number of
cities employing the system has grown from sixteen to thirty-eight; the
number of counties using it in felony cases from eleven to thirty-nine;
and the number of counties using it in town and village courts from two
to twenty-two. In spite of the marked extension of the system, however,
a map published in the report indicates that in thirteen of the
sixty-one counties in the state not a single person was placed on
probation during the past year. This is because the adoption of the
system and the appointment of probation officers is optional with the
local authorities.
The report makes special mention of the use of probation as a means of
collecting family support, restitution and instalment fines. While
practically nothing was collected by probation officers for these
purposes when the commission started its work five years ago, the
aggregate amount paid for these purposes by probationers in compliance
with court orders during the past year is estimated as in the
neighborhood of $300,000. According to the report, the domestic
relations courts of Buffalo, Manhattan and Brooklyn, the first courts of
this character to be established, were largely an outgrowth of the
probation system and depend to a great extent upon it for their
efficiency.
The volume contains a number of carefully prepared tables and charts.