Probation Supervision, Behind the Scenes

What’s a structured intervention worksheet? What’s a Carey Guide? And what do judges and lawyers need to know about those things to interface with Probation effectively? Probation today doesn’t look like it did 20 years ago. Or even 5 years ago. Some of that evolution stems from Justice Reinvestment and other statutory changes. Things like CRV and quick dips didn’t even exist before 2011. But much of the change is the result of a broader philosophical shift within community corrections, both in North Carolina and across the country. That shift is reflected in revised policies and training within the Division of Adult Correction. Probation would generally characterize its updated approach as “Evidence-Based Practices,” or EBP. I wrote about those practices—focusing on the risk-needs assessment that Probation conducts on every supervised probationer during the first 60 days of supervision—in this post back in 2012. The general idea is to use the results of that assessment process to shape the probationer’s supervision in terms of how closely he or she will be watched, and how the officer will respond to noncompliance. An important component of EBP in North Carolina is probation officers’ use of structured worksheets to guide their interactions with probationers. Some of the worksheets they use were developed in-house, while others are “name brand.” In the latter category, the name you’re most likely to hear is “Carey Guides,” a handbook series published by Carey Group Publishing. There are many titles in the Carey Guide series, some focused on particular crimes (impaired [...]