Federal or United States Probation Service is an agency that services the United States District Court in all 94 judicial federal districts nationwide and consitute the community corrections arm of the Federal Court System.

The first legislation for Federal Probation Law was introduced in 1909, one of which was prepared by the New York State Probation Commission and the National Probation Association and introduced before Congress by United States Senator Robert L. Owen of Oklahoma. The bill provided for a suspension of a sentence, in U.S. District Court, and a sentence of probation. The bill also provided for compensation of $5 per diem for Federal Probation Officers. This first attempt did not pass and through 1909 to 1925 there were 34 bills introduced to establish federal probation law.

In 1925, the Federal Probation Act was introduced by Senator Copeland as S.1042 and Represenative Graham as H.R. 5195. The U.S. Senate passed in unanimously but the House passed the law by a vote of 170 in favor and 49 oppossed. On March 4, 1925, President Calvin Coolidge, a former Massachusetts Governor and very familiar with the benefits of a functioning probation system, passed the bill in law. This Act gave the U.S. Courts the power to appoint Federal Probation Officers and authority to sentence defendants to probation instead of a prison sentence. It later gave U.S. Probation Officer the responsibility of supervising offenders granted parole by the United State Parole Commission, military offenders and pretrial supervision. The responsibility of the United States Probation Service was first under the United States Department of Justice, under the supervising authority of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, however, in 1940 the Administrative Office (AO) of the U.S. Courts was established and assumed the responsibility.

U.S. Pretrial Services came along more than 50 years later, in 1982, with the passing of The Pretrial Services Act of 1982, and was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. It was developed as a means to reduce both crimes committed by persons released into the community pending trial and unnecessary pretrial detention. Some districts have both a separate U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services Offices. However, as of recent a trend to re-combine both of these offices are on the increase. This trend has only increased since the budget crisis that resulted after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

There are 94 U.S. District Courts nationwide, which includes the U.S. Territories. U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services are located in 93 of them. (Probation and Pretrial Services for the District of Northern Mariana Islands are provided by the District of Guam.) Currently there are over 6,000 U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services Officers nationally and it is one the smallest and most misunderstood agencies within the Federal Government.

System funding and administration

Congress annually appropriates funds for the Federal Judiciary, and the system's budget is part of that. This funding is used to pay employee salaries and support various programs for defendants and offenders such as substance abuse treatment and testing, mental health treatment and home confinement with electronic monitoring.

Unlike most federal agencies, the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services System is not centralized. Local administration is in the hands of each of the Chief U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services Officers, who are directly responsible to the Courts they serve. The Chiefs do their own hiring, manage their own budgets, and retain considerable autonomy to run their offices and districts how they see fit.

Two national entities provide oversite and support to the U.S. Probation System. The Judicial Conference of the United States, which is presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and includes a group of committees that set policy for the U.S. Courts. The Judicial Conference's Criminal Law Sub-Committee focuses expressly on probation and pretrial services issues.

The other oversite organization is the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, or simply referred to as the A.O. The A.O. carries out the Judicial Conference's policies and provides the Courts with a broad range of administrative, management, and program support. Within the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the Office of Probation and Pretrial Services reviews the work of probation and pretrial services offices, developes system policies, and supports system programs.

Courtesy Wikipedia-2006