Justice

CJ 161 Week 5 Assignments: Intake Officer

Christopher Merritt

Westwood College online

June 26, 2010

The field in Criminal Justice that I have chosen will take me a few steps to get there but I do have a plan. The beginning of my plan starts out here at IBC and ends at the juvenile probation department. In the state of Indiana you have to have a bachelor's degree to become one so I will have a few steps on the way. I'm sure I will have to get some help with these steps but I am willing to ask the questions and the take the time that it will take to get me to the end of my plan.

Qualifications for Probation Officers

1. A probation officer shall be at least twenty-one (21) years of age.

2. A probation officer shall be an American citizen

3. A person who submits an application to take the examination for prospective probation officers shall have a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university or be in the last semester of a baccalaureate degree program. A person may not serve as a probation officer until he or she has received a baccalaureate degree.

4. A person who submits an application to take the examination for prospective probation officers shall be a person of good moral character.

5. A person shall take and pass an examination for prospective probation officers prior to employment or within six months from the date that the person is first employed as a probation officer.

a.) A person who fails the examination shall be permitted to take the examination a second time. The second examination shall not be given until ninety (90) days after the first examination, during which time the person shall not be permitted to serve as a probation officer.

b.) A person who fails the examination a second time shall not be permitted to take the examination or serve as a probation officer until one year after the second examination.

6. A probation officer shall be required to attend an orientation program conducted by the Indiana Judicial Center within one year from the date that the officer is employed.

7. The qualifications established by the Judicial Conference of Indiana shall be minimum qualifications only, and a trial court judge may require higher qualifications for probation officers.

8. The qualifications established by the Judicial Conference of Indiana shall be effective on July 1, 1984. The qualifications shall not apply to persons who have been certified as eligible to serve as probation officers in Indiana courts prior to July 1, 1984.

I think the personal attributes that I could bring to this kind of job are many. I have a lot of good qualities about myself if I can brag for a moment. I am a strong willed person and I would like to think I can read people pretty well also. Through the years I have had to deal with legal problems in my life. I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing. And one of my children is following in my footsteps which have caused me to learn more about the probationary part of the law then I care to know right now. But when I think about it the way my life has gone and all the twists and turns I have had had brought me to this part in my life that has caused me to make this choice in occupations. I can sometime be a hard person or I can be an understanding person it just depends on what the situation