PAYING BACK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 230, 28 September 1935, Page 19

PAYING BACK.

OFFENDERS ON PROBATION.

NEARLY £3000 LAST YEAR.

(By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.)

, WELLINGTON, Friday,

The offenders' probation report, as presented to Parliament, states that, despite adverse conditions, particularly in respect to the pancity of opportunities for placing probationers in permanent employment, the result of the year's work has been satisfactory. The most striking feature in this connection has been the increase in the amount of restitution of money collected. The total amount paid by probationers during the year was £2914, representing £475 for costs Of prosecutions and £2439 for restitution to persons robbed or defrauded. The total sum of £60,192 has been collected since the inception of the provision under which the Courts arc empowered to order restitution. "Although these financial results demonstrate strikingly, the positive advantage of probation over imprisonment *wiiere the offender •-becomes a charge on the takpayfei? and" the injured party receives no redress, the human factors are by far the more important considerations," states the report. "If means other than incarceration can be devised whereby erring humans can be salvaged for future usefulness, with less disruption of social ties and responsibilities, with less risk of harmful reactions psychologically, and at less expense, then in appropriate cases such an alternative method should be availed of."