John Augustus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Augustus was a Boston boot maker who, by persuading a judge in the Boston Police Court in 1841 to give him custody of a convicted offender, pioneered the development of probation in the United States.
[edit] Famous Writings
- The Report of the Labors of John Augustus
The “Father of Probation” was a Boston shoe cobbler named John Augustus.
Even though there were traces of practices similar to our system of probation dated back to 437 B.C. The system we use today came directly from John Augustus's plan for behavior rehabilitation. In fact John August coined the word “probation” which he derived from the latin word “probare” which means “to prove,to test”.
Augustus was an active member of the Washington Total Abstinence Society. And as a member of the Washingtonians he abstained from any consumption of alcohol and believed that through caring, kindness, and moral persuasion any alcoholic could be rehabilitated.
This membership would turn his interest to the court system. Augustus watched court proceedings and became concerned that poor drunks and offenders of petty crimes were being sent to prison. He felt that first time offenders could best be rehabilitated if spared the crime hardening experience of a prison sentence.
In 1841, Augustus approached the court and persuaded it to let a “common drunkard” be left in his care instead of going to prison. The conditions were that a fine needed to be paid and the offender must return before the court in three weeks, the fine was levied at one cent plus court costs, which came to the total of $3.76.
After three weeks of being in Augustus's care, in which Augustus found him a job and made him sign a pledge to stop drinking, the offender and Augustus returned to astonish the court. The offender was completely sober and his appearance and demeanor were drastically improved.
Due to his success with the drunkard, the court allowed Augustus to take more and more offenders into his custody. Of course he didn't try to take all the cases, he would select prospective probationers based on age, character and the people places and things apt to influence them to make his decision. His practice assumed that most offenders are not dangerous and will respond well to treatment, we know that that line of thinking has changed a lot by now.
In 1843 Augustus turned his attention toward helping children. He took eleven children into his care, all accused of stealing. The children included ten girls ages eight an ten and an eleven year boy. Three years later this number had grown to thirty children ranging nine to sixteen year olds. How it worked was the children's cases were continued for a period of several months as a term of probation. And at each month's calling of the docket, Augustus would appear make his report and the cases would pass on for 5-6 months. At the end of the term he would appear with some of the children and as with his first success their appearance had drastically improved from the time of their arraignment. With this and the paying of a ten cent fine a piece the judge would declare that the object of the law has been accomplished, thanks to Augustus's plan to save and reform.
Augustus's success rate could rival and possibly surpass the success rate of any rehabilitation program available to today. His work brought him the devotion and aid of many Boston philanthropists and organizations.
Augustus's first success had started him on an 18 year run as the first probation officer ever.
