The Probation Officer's Status It seems probable that one of
the subjects on which the Home Office committee now sitting on Summary Courts (Social Services) will have something to say will be the present and future status of probation officers. If justice is to be remedial rather than retributive or merely deterrent the probation officers in the ordinary police-court should have a part to play hardly less important than the magistrate. Indeed without their knowledge to appeal to, and their supervision to rely on, the magistrate could never deal in the wisest and most constructive way with a wide variety of cases that come before him, particularly where children and young people are involved. And if the Summary Courts Committee makes recommendations, as it well may, on those matrimonial disputes to whose difficulties Mr. Claud Mullins in particular has drawn attention, that will almost certainly involve fresh work of a delicate kind for the probation officer. For it the proper preparation must be made. Higher qualifications, such as a university degree or diploma in such subjects as psychology and social science, must be exacted, and the positions should be sufficiently remunerative to attract the best type of applicant. The small expense involved would be a profitable investment socially, and even financially, ..
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