Located in the middle of the state, Greene County is the third largest provider of juvenile probation services in Missouri. Greene County has a series of probation offices located throughout the area, with a main juvenile probation office and court in the city of Springfield. The juvenile system in Greene County is known as the Juvenile Justice Center and operates under the direct supervision of the Office of State Courts Administration.
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Juvenile Probation Officer Job Classifications in Greene County
In Greene County, there are three different types of juvenile probation officer jobs: formal probation, informal probation and teen court.
- Formal probation: these officers are required to supervise offenders that are service juvenile probation sentences. These offenders are allowed to stay a part of their community while being monitored by an officer of the Juvenile Justice Center. Sentences vary depending on an offender’s past history, the severity of the crime committed and the likelihood of a juvenile on probation to re-offend. On average, about 150 juvenile are sentenced to formal probation sentences each year.
- Informal probation: Low-risk juveniles are sentenced to informal probation sentences typically. The operations performed by juvenile probation officers with informal probation offenders is the same as those working with formal probation offenders. On average, about 200 low-risk youth are sentenced to informal probation each year.
- Teen court: Juvenile probation officers working with the teen court are given a unique opportunity, as the teen court is an informal and progressive system used for low-risk youth offenders. The teen court allows youth offenders to be judged by a jury of their peers. The idea being that it will help both youth offenders and the jury (which is made up of youth that are interested in pursuing a career in criminal justice after high school.)
Education Requirements For Juvenile Probation Officers in Greene County
In order to become a juvenile probation officer in Greene County (whether it be formal, informal or as a teen court administrator) an applicant must have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university or college. Those that do not meet the requirements will not be considered for a position. It is preferred that the bachelor’s degree be in:
- Criminal justice
- Criminology
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Social work
- A field of study closely related to one of the subjects
In some cases, an equivalent amount of work in one of those areas, or a closely relate career field, can be applied and substituted for the education requirement.
Training in Greene County
All juvenile probation officer recruits are required to complete 40 hours of training classes at a peace officer training academy located in the state. In order to graduate from the academy, a recruit must pass the Peace Officer Standards and Training test (POST,) with a score of at least 70-percent. Graduation from the academy is mandatory in order to obtain a position at one of the juvenile probation offices in Greene County, Missouri.