To become a Juvenile Probation Officer, you should obtain a bachelor degree in Psychology, Social Work or Criminal Justice and obtain practical experience in counseling and community work. Juvenile Probation Officers help young people on probation turn their lives around through counseling, motivational interviews and family or community groups.
Juvenile Probation Officers keep case files, make recommendations for rehabilitation, assess a youth's progress, enter information into the Juvenile Justice Information System and give testimony in court.Becoming a Juvenile Probation Officer requires a bachelor degree, such as a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice, a Bachelor of Science in Psychology or a Bachelor of Science in Social Work. Some experience in counseling and working with young people is also important. Studying one or more foreign languages will also be useful. A college internship with an organization helping troubled or at-risk youth.
Volunteering with these organizations provides practical experience.Check with your state's department of justice to see if there are any openings for Juvenile Probation Officers. After completing an application, you'll complete an interview, undergo background checks and complete a psychological screening. Probation is a sentence handed down by a court where a criminal agrees to be supervised and abide by guidelines while living in a designated community instead of going to jail. The probation sentence may include severe restrictions on activities and travel.
A Probation Officer supervises a probationer to ensure that he or she abides by the probation restrictions. Probation Officers are mainly employed by state and local governments, and their starting salaries depend on such factors as the type of criminal supervised, employment sector and location. Salary information obtained from PayScale. com lumps Probation Officers with criminal treatment specialists.
The 2009 median starting salary for both occupations in the U. S. is $31,716.Probation Officers employed in urban areas may have higher wages, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Working with adults pays slightly less, an average salary for an adult probation officer at $37,000 and a juvenile probation officer at $40,000, as of June 2009.
Probation Officers working for the federal government receive the highest median wage of $48,651. Median income for state and local government Probation Officers is about $36,932. Probation Officers in Washington, D. C.
and Los Angeles have median salaries in the $65,000 to $66,000 range.
