Chakrabarti, unsurprisingly, says no. 11.00pm: One former probation officer offered his support to Clarke.
When a sympathetic probation officer offered to cut his probation in half if he passed his G.E.D. exam, and to erase it completely if he enrolled in community college, Mr. Parker leapt at the opportunity.
Even more appealing to cash-strapped municipalities, private-probation companies offer their services at no cost to the taxpayer.
Among law enforcement officials, politicians and experts on criminal justice, it is a risky issue, because the Boston model, emphasizing creative partnerships among agencies like the police force and probation agencies, offers a distinct contrast to the other most successful crime-fighting strategy of the 1990's, that of New York City.
Because so many courts are cash-strapped, a growing number are contracting out supervision services to private companies that offer probation services for misdemeanor cases at no charge to the government.
Although this did not reach statistical significance these effects are potentially clinically important as an indication that probation supervision might offer a protective effect and may act as a crucial source of support for vulnerable offenders.
Though she maintained her innocence, her court-appointed lawyer told her to plead guilty, since the prosecutor offered probation.
The defendant's lawyer, Mitchell Schuman, insisted that his client was supposed to be offered probation, but there apparently was no such note in the file Mr. Vance had.
The man, Donovan Spence, had originally been offered probation when he pleaded guilty in 1992 in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn to charges that he robbed a store.
Mr. Tom, who had been charged at the time in a separate case of attempted grand larceny, agreed to a plea deal in which he was offered probation in exchange for testifying against Mr. Su.
