top of page

Beginnings.

 

Probation started up in Boston in 1841, when John Augustus showed drunks kindness rather than to a prison cell. Rehabilitation was baked into probation from the start. The deal was set: lower recidivism in the future than incarceration, purchased at lower cost, offsetting any crimes committed during the term. 

 

It held for a century. Until it didn't.

 

bottom of page