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  5. Probation and Parole Officers

Exploring Trades and Occupations

Probation and Parole Officers

On this page

  • Job description
  • Advancement and mobility
  • Hourly wage
  • Job prospects for 2022-2026
  • Sectors of activity
  • Training and requirements
  • Main skills and characteristics
  • Personality profiles (RIASEC)
  • Additional information

Job description

Probation Officers supervise the conduct and behaviour of offenders on probation.

Parole Officers supervise the reintegration of offenders on parole.

Classification Officers evaluate detained individuals. They also develop rehabilitation programs for offenders incarcerated in correctional facilities.

Prison Counsellors serve as a resource person for offenders. They encourage them to become aware of their behaviour and to begin a process of empowerment.

These individuals work in the public service and in correctional facilities.

Environment

  • Controlled ambient temperature
  • Hazardous workplaces
  • Violence

Main tasks

Probation and Parole Officers

  • Meet with offenders, their entourage (family and friends), and the police.
  • Draft reports.
  • Assess the chances of successful social reintegration.
  • Develop rehabilitation programs and define guidelines and objectives.
  • Refer offenders to the services available to them.
  • Supervise probation conditions and report to the court.
  • Assess the extent to which offenders achieve their goals and comply with their probation conditions.
  • Recommend measures or initiate legal action for breach of probation.
  • Supervise support staff.
  • Ensure the accompaniment of the offender through interventions aimed at making them aware of and responsible for their social reintegration process, as well as through supervision and monitoring activities.

Classification Officers - Correctional Services

  • Meet with inmates to assess adjustment problems and develop rehabilitation programs.
  • Draft reports that identify the type of incarceration and intervention most conducive to rehabilitation.
  • Develop rehabilitation programs with inmates and set goals.
  • Communicate with family and friends to help maintain ties outside the institution.
  • Provide advice and counselling to inmates and evaluate their progress.

Prison Counsellors

  • Ensure the development and implementation of programs and services to support social reintegration.
  • Act as a resource person for offenders with respect to their delinquency problems.
  • Sit on various committees provided for in the instructions (temporary absences, discipline, classification review, etc.).
  • Support the Executive Committee by managing various administrative files.
  • Carry out various assessment and intervention activities with offenders.

Advancement and mobility

  • Experience or additional training can lead to management positions.

Hourly wage

Not available.

Job prospects for 2022-2026

sr.comparaison-region.titre

Les 2 champs de sélection ci-dessous vous permettent de comparer 2 régions. Les données des régions seront automatiquement mises à jour à la sélection. Par défaut, la province de Québec est sélectionnée pour la première région.

Job prospects for 2022-2026

Job prospects

All of Québec

Non available
Limited
Good
Very good
Very good

All of Québec

Non available
Limited
Good
Very good
Non available

Total jobs for 2021

All of Québec

900

All of Québec

na

Gender distribution

All of Québec

Not available.
78.3% Female
21.7% Male

Not available.
  • 78.3% Female
  • 21.7% Male

Job types

All of Québec

Not available.
Full time
Part time

Not available.
  • Full time
  • Part time

Yearly wage on 2015

All of Québec

$66,000

All of Québec

Other characteristics

All of Québec

  • Non traditional for men
  • None

All of Québec

  • Non traditional for men
  • None

Sectors of activity

All of Québec

Not available.
  1. Public Administration
    NAICS 91
    97% of jobs
  2. Social Assistance
    NAICS 624
    2% of jobs
  3. Health Care
    NAICS 621, 622, 623
    1% of jobs
  4. Health Care
    NAICS 621, 622, 623
    1% of jobs
  5. Health Care
    NAICS 621, 622, 623
    1% of jobs
  6. Others
    0% of jobs

All of Québec

Not available.
  1. Public Administration
    NAICS 91
    97% of jobs
  2. Social Assistance
    NAICS 624
    2% of jobs
  3. Health Care
    NAICS 621, 622, 623
    1% of jobs
  4. Health Care
    NAICS 621, 622, 623
    1% of jobs
  5. Health Care
    NAICS 621, 622, 623
    1% of jobs
  6. Others
    0% of jobs

Training and requirements

Formation

Most training programs are offered in French only.

University

Criminology
Bachelor’s degree

Placement rate: 73.6%

24.5% of graduates pursue further studies

More on graduates’ employment situation
Master’s degree

Placement rate: 86.5%

10.8% of graduates pursue further studies

More on graduates’ employment situation
This discipline is taught in the following institutions:
  • Université de Montréal
  • Université Laval
Psychology
Bachelor’s degree

Placement rate: 35.3%

60.2% of graduates pursue further studies

More on graduates’ employment situation
Master’s degree

Placement rate: 23.3%

69.8% of graduates pursue further studies

More on graduates’ employment situation
This discipline is taught in the following institutions:
  • Bishop's University
  • Concordia University
  • Université de Montréal
  • Université de Sherbrooke
  • Université du Québec à Chicoutimi
  • Université du Québec en Outaouais
  • Université du Québec à Montréal
  • Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
  • Université Laval
  • McGill University

Also required

  • Be a member in good standing of one of the following professional orders (or be able to meet this requirement within the next year):
    • Ordre professionnel des criminologues du Québec (Quebec Order of Professional Criminologists)
    • Ordre des travailleurs sociaux et des thérapeutes conjugaux et familiaux du Québec (Quebec Order of Social Workers and Marriage and Family Therapists)
    • Ordre des conseillers et conseillères d'orientation du Québec (Quebec Order of Guidance Counsellors)
    • Ordre des psychologues du Québec (Quebec Order of Psychologists)
    • Ordre des psychoéducateurs et psychoéducatrices du Québec (Quebec Order of Psychoeducators)
    • Ordre professionnel des sexologues du Québec (Quebec Order of Professional Sexologists)

Sometimes required

  • Maitrise en sciences sociales (travail social, criminologie, psychologie, etc.) parfois exigée.

Main skills and characteristics

Skills

  • Data collection
  • Oral expression
  • Critical thought
  • Social perception
  • Active listening
  • Result evaluation
  • Written expression
  • Reading comprehension
  • Information processing
  • Judgment and decision-making
  • Solving complex problems
  • Coordination
  • Persuasion
  • Active learning
  • Service oriented
  • Negotiation
  • Teaching
  • Time management
More Less skills

Abilities

  • Awareness of issues
  • Oral comprehension
  • Verbal skills
  • Inductive reasoning
  • Speech recognition
  • Deductive reasoning
  • Speech clarity
  • Written comprehension
  • Written expression
  • Near vision
  • Information organization
More Less abilities

Knowledge and attributes

  • Capacity to establish and maintain interpersonal relations
  • Critical thinking
  • Sense of responsibility
  • Capacity to influence and mobilize
  • Capacity to work in a team
  • Rigour
  • Tolerance to stress
  • Sense of observation
  • Knowledge of public safety and security
  • Knowledge of psychology

Interests

  • Draft, communicate, and inform
  • Watch, defend, and secure
  • Assist and advise
  • Teach or educate
  • Assist or care for people

Personality profiles (RIASEC)

Social
People with this profile prefer to be in contact with others, in particular to entertain, help or teach them.
Investigative
People with this profile prefer relying on theoretical knowledge before acting. They like observation, analysis and problem solving.
Conventional
People with this profile prefer specific, well-defined tasks. They like to respect the order of things and follow established rules.
Additional information

Official name of the NOC 4155

Probation and parole officers and related occupations

Job titles

  • Classification officer - correctional institution
  • Case manager - corrections
  • Parole officer
  • Probation officer
  • Probation and parole officer
  • Correctional centre caseworker
  • Clemency officer - corrections
  • Community case manager officer - corrections
  • Social assistance program officer - corrections
  • Welfare program officer - corrections
  • Classification counsellor - corrections
  • Parole supervisor
  • Youth worker - corrections
More Less job titles

Skill type

Education, law and social, community and government services

Related occupations

  • Correctional service officers
  • Managers in social, community and correctional services
  • Social and community service workers
  • Social workers

See also

  • Glossary (PDF 229 Kb)
  • Québec emploi This hyperlink will open in a new window.

Last update: March 27, 2023

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