Jobs / Education and social services / 21-1092.00
Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists
Provide social services to assist in rehabilitation of law offenders in custody or on probation or parole. Make recommendations for actions involving formulation of rehabilitation plan and treatment of offender, including conditional release and education and employment stipulations.
- US jobs
- 89,390
- Median wage
- $66,270 a year
- Job family
- Education and social services
Can agents do the work of probation officers and correctional treatment specialists?
We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Education and social services:
- Task levelUnexploredNo task-level benchmark in our collection tests teaching, counseling, or casework.
- Project levelPartialThin, adjacent evidence only. GDPval, which spans 44 occupations, is the one benchmark in our collection mapped here. OpenAI reports that GPT-5.5's deliverables won or tied against professionals' work in 84.9% of comparisons across all GDPval occupations. No benchmark tests work with students or clients.
Benchmarks for the job family
These cover work in education and social services, not always this occupation's tasks.
Typical tasks
From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.
- Prepare and maintain case folder for each assigned inmate or offender.
- Gather information about offenders' backgrounds by talking to offenders, their families and friends, and other people who have relevant information.
- Interview probationers and parolees regularly to evaluate their progress in accomplishing goals and maintaining the terms specified in their probation contracts and rehabilitation plans.
- Discuss with offenders how such issues as drug and alcohol abuse and anger management problems might have played roles in their criminal behavior.
- Supervise people on community-based sentences, such as electronically monitored home detention, and provide field supervision of probationers by conducting curfew checks or visits to home, work, or school.
- Investigate alleged parole violations, using interviews, surveillance, and search and seizure.
- Recommend remedial action or initiate court action in response to noncompliance with terms of probation or parole.
- Arrange for medical, mental health, or substance abuse treatment services according to individual needs or court orders.
- Develop liaisons and networks with other parole officers, community agencies, correctional institutions, psychiatric facilities, and aftercare agencies to plan for helping offenders with life adjustments.
- Administer drug and alcohol tests, including random drug screens of offenders, to verify compliance with substance abuse treatment programs.
- Inform offenders or inmates of requirements of conditional release, such as office visits, restitution payments, or educational and employment stipulations.
- Participate in decisions about whether cases should go before courts and which court should hear them.
Other job titles for this occupation (55)
Adult Probation Officer · Correctional Counselor · Deputy Probation Officer (DPO) · Juvenile Probation Officer · Parole Agent · Parole Officer (PO) · Probation Agent · Probation and Parole Officer · Probation Counselor · Probation Officer · Adult Probation and Parole Officer · Attendance Officer · Community Corrections Specialist · Community Supervision Officer · Correctional Case Manager · Correctional Casework Specialist · Correctional Officer · Correctional Probation Officer · Correctional Probation Specialist · Correctional Specialist · Correctional Treatment Case Manager · Correctional Treatment Specialist · Correctional Treatment Specialist Case Manager · Corrections Counselor · Corrections Specialist · Court Worker · Crime Prevention Worker · DCC Parole Officer (Division of Community Corrections Parole Officer) · Deputy Juvenile Officer · Detention Attendant · Detention Officer · Detention Worker · Intensive Supervision Officer · Juvenile Correctional Officer · Juvenile Counselor · Juvenile Court Counselor · Juvenile Detention Officer · Juvenile Justice Specialist · Juvenile Officer · Juvenile Probation Parole Officer · Juvenile Probation Parole Specialist · Juvenile Specialist · Juvenile Supervision Officer · Offender Employment Specialist (OES) · Offender Job Retention Specialist · Offender Workforce Development Specialist (OWDS) · Parole Specialist · People Officer · Prisoner Classification Interviewer · Probation and Patrol Agent · Probation Case Specialist · Probation Specialist · Probation Worker · Truant Officer · Youth Probation Officer