Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists
Provide social services to assist in rehabilitation of law offenders in custody or on probation or parole. Make recommendations for actions involving formulation of rehabilitation plan and treatment of offender, including conditional release and education and employment stipulations.
89,390 people do this job in the US. $66,270 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 55%
- 8%
- 36%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 35%. Today's estimate: 42%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 21 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conduct prehearing and presentencing investigations and testify in court regarding offenders' backgrounds and recommended sentences and sentencing conditions.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 17% | 1 work day3.3 h to 2.5 work days | Stays with people | |
| Gather information about offenders' backgrounds by talking to offenders, their families and friends, and other people who have relevant information.Done daily by most who do it. | 13% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | 46%Half by Oct 2026 | |
| Investigate alleged parole violations, using interviews, surveillance, and search and seizure.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 12% | 3.3 h1.3 h to 1.3 work days | Stays with people | |
| Supervise people on community-based sentences, such as electronically monitored home detention, and provide field supervision of probationers by conducting curfew checks or visits to home, work, or school.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 1.3 h38 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Discuss with offenders how such issues as drug and alcohol abuse and anger management problems might have played roles in their criminal behavior.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Develop rehabilitation programs for assigned offenders or inmates, establishing rules of conduct, goals, and objectives.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 2.5 h1.3 h to 4.2 h | 77%Half by now | |
| Write reports describing offenders' progress.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 50 min25 min to 2.1 h | 98%Half by now | |
| Prepare and maintain case folder for each assigned inmate or offender.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | 98%Half by now | |
| Develop liaisons and networks with other parole officers, community agencies, correctional institutions, psychiatric facilities, and aftercare agencies to plan for helping offenders with life adjustments.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 h | 95%Half by now | |
| Recommend remedial action or initiate court action in response to noncompliance with terms of probation or parole.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.7 h38 min to 4.2 h | 72%Half by now | |
| Participate in decisions about whether cases should go before courts and which court should hear them.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 1.1 h25 min to 2.1 h | 95%Half by now | |
| Develop and prepare packets containing information about social service agencies, assistance organizations, and programs that might be useful for inmates or offenders.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.7 h50 min to 4.2 h | 82%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Correctional Officers and Jailers12% now, 12% by 2028
- Child, Family, and School Social Workers35% now, 52% by 2028
- First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers18% now, 27% by 2028
- Rehabilitation Counselors66% now, 79% by 2028
- Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers21% now, 44% by 2028
- Social and Human Service Assistants44% now, 46% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).