Interview with a Probation Officer Paper

Term Paper Assignment

You are expected to complete and turn in a term paper based on an interview with a person who has been involved in the criminal justice system. You will be expected to broach several topics during the interview.  The focus of your paper are the following sections:

1)   How is the interviewee involved with the CJ system and was brought them there (i.e., what made 

them go into CJ if it’s a career).

2)   Discuss crime control vs. due process models.  This means you may have to educate the 

interviewee on what those terms mean.  

3)   Does the CJ system lean more toward the crime control or the due process models, in the 

interviewee’s opinion.

4)   Is the system okay, or does it need to shift from the model the person believes the system leans 

toward to the opposite side (i.e. if they say it leans toward crime control, should it move toward 

due process).  

5)   If the interviewee feels it needs to shift, how can that be done.  

6)   Based on the interviewee’s answers, how do you feel about the system.  If it needs to shift, how 

can that be done.  

Interviewee ideas (not an exhaustive list):  Attorneys, judicial assistants, court reporters, bailiffs, police 

officers, correctional officers, probation officers, criminal psychologists, judges, criminal defendants, victims