Daviess County will be the first of five area counties to put the plan in motion and will serve as a sort of test case for the program
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
The 43rd Judicial Circuit Court, which includes Daviess County, has begun a new probation, parole and bond supervision program which will mark the first one of its type to be instituted in the rural areas of Missouri. Daviess County will be the first of five area counties to put the plan in motion and will serve as a sort of test case for the program.
Once in place, the new system is expected to save the county money.
“Thousands within the first year,” said Daren Adkins, Associate Circuit Judge of Daviess County. “Fifteen to 20 thousand dollars for sure once fully operational.”
However, saving money was not the court’s primary reason for the change.
The main reason was the lack of control the area courts have had over private probation officers. Previously the state of Missouri provided probation services to the Associate Division of the Circuit Courts, but those services were discontinued a few years ago. Some of those services were replaced by private probation services.
With the private system, once placed on probation, defendants were allowed to find anybody they wanted to serve as their private probation officer. The probation officer was required to watch over the defendant and make sure he stayed on continued good behavior.
The defendants themselves paid for the service. Rates were set by statute at $30 a month. That might not seem like a lot of money, but if a probation officer took on 10 or 20 or more defendants a month, it would soon add up. None of the money went to the courts.
Judge Adkins said some private probation officers were contracted with other circuits and credible, but too many took advantage of the system and didn’t report the bad behavior of their clients.
“Basically, we had one coyote telling another coyote to not eat the chickens,” he explained. “The probation officer had no incentive to tell the court if the defendant had violated probation. If the court found out the defendant was not being supervised appropriately, we would revoke the defendant’s probation and the money would stop.”
The five counties that make up the 43rd Judicial Circuit also had trouble agreeing on any one private probation service to contract with.
“We didn’t want to contract with any one service, because some of them that are convenient, say, for Clinton County, are not good for Daviess County,” Judge Adkins said. “We didn’t want our county’s defendants to have to drive all the way to Kansas City.”
To remedy these problems, the associate circuit judges of the 43rd circuit court Daren Adkins of Daviess; Barbara Lame of Livingston; Daniel Chadwick of Caldwell; Brent Eliott of DeKalb; and Paul Luckenbil of Clinton; along with Presiding Judge Stephen Griffin and Circuit Judge Warren McElwain began discussing the idea of their own court services program last October.
The 43rd Circuit Court Services Program was born out of those discussions and after local rules were established during public meetings, the program officially began on June 1. The program amounts to a single probation service hired by the courts to cover all five counties.
“The new program will allow the courts to have control over probation officers,” said Judge Adkins. “Their income will no longer be dependent on how many defendants they have. Their obligation will be to the court, not to the defendant. The system will be cleaner and should not lead to any abuse at all.”
Under the new system, there will be no private probation officers. Defendants will be required to use the Court Services Program. The program also covers every court in the district, including municipal.
The program will provide the courts with probation services; bond supervision for those prisoners who could be released before trial; and electronic monitoring at home or at work for defendants on either parole, probation or bond supervision.
“The programs will not work for all defendants, but it will work for a significant number,” said Judge Adkins. “Some of the defendants with jobs would be fine if they had adequate supervision while they were out in society. If they had a competent probation officer to report to and who would make sure they go to work and that they’re not violating the law.”
Each of the five counties provided a loan to get the program started. Daviess County invested $6,500.
According to Judge Adkins, Daviess County has between 100 to 150 people on probation at any given time. Some of the other counties have a higher number on probation. Supposing it averaged out to 200 people on probation per county, that would equal 1,000 prisoners a day, he said. Multiply that by the $30 a month supervision fee and it comes to $30,000 a month.
Officials believe the new program will generate enough money to make it self-supporting. The money will stay in a separate 43rd judicial services account.
Karl Rice has been appointed court services administrator of the 43rd Judicial Circuit. Mr. Rice served the last two years as district administrator of Missouri Probation and Parole District 2. He has been with the district for 10 years and with probation and parole for 18 years.
Initially Mr. Rice will work with Tony Lambert. Mr. Lambert is formerly from Brookfrield and now lives at Hamilton and has worked for state probation and parole for eight years. He will be First Officer. Mr. Lambert will start June 15. The probation service will operate out of the Daviess County Courthouse until a more central office space is established, probably in Cameron. More help will be hired as probationary services extend to include the other counties.
Mr. Rice actually retired last Tuesday, but came back to work to oversee the challenges of the new system.
“The state quit offering intervention services to offenders at the first sign of trouble,” said Mr. Rice. “Probation officers weren’t seeing offenders until they were already convicted of a felony. By that time they were well into their bad habits, substance abuse problems and criminal behavior. I think intervening up front is an important service. For instance, the state offers no supervision for first or second offense DWIs. Yet I think driving while intoxicated is one of the most dangerous offenses in the criminal justice system because it kills so many people.”
The new system will offer probationary services for DWIs and other misdemeanors as assigned by the court.
Mr. Rice said at least two more officers will be hired in the near future. They will eventually supervise between 700 to 1,000 offenders as the program develops.