Don't Put Me In Jail: How Young Offenders Become Probationers | Inside The Probation Service | Ep 1

when having fun like all of a sudden like this boy just came like look look at us like i didn't want to fight him with it but then my friend confronted him and said why you looking at us like he scored all of us so that's when we get a holla we are circling him like he was did he want to fight us like my friend is in the glass bottle to the sheet then they punched my friend when your friend went for him what was your immediate thought my friend was being beaten up like quite badly you all voluntarily caused her uh you kicked the victim's rib cage and kneecap two to three times and then uh you also punched the victim on his face about three to four times while he was lying on the ground okay do you have any friends on probation so you kind of know what it's like like right it's a community we have annotations so that means he will be able to go to work go to school stay at home okay but there will be a lot of conditions placed on him and it might also feel like the family also cannot provision together with him [Music] [Music] did anyone explain to you why you're here today no because you're below 21 years old when you're charged in court most of the time the court will ask for a probation report usually we get our cases from the courts they are referred to us because they have committed offences so my job here is really to understand whether you are suitable for probation you do know that if you are placed on probation there is no conviction record right of course i'm looking forward probation is essentially supervision of an offender in the community it is a second chance because it is an opportunity for them to recognize the harm that they've caused others to make amends to stop offending your first procedure offense is you decided that you will bring the earphone out of the shop so your second charge at around 3 a.m you were outside there was some yelling the police officer spotted you and then told you to stop and then you actually hold some involution okay your third chance you decide to steal alcohol so these are the three offenses there's no dispute right if not for probation the court can actually commit them to an institution like a juvenile rehab center or to prison what was happening at that point when you decide to steal the earphone i actually went to drink alone then i was very dipsy i thought like india needs to know i also don't know what i'm doing they call me oh my god yeah can you tell me a little bit more about the one where you hope for guarantees at a police officer [Music] [Music] when i drink i want to get drunk so i fall down force down force number four i keep drinking drinking drinking i just felt like a lot of emotions i cannot express draw anyone i cannot talk to anyone so if i drink then maybe people hear me out [Music] so your parents are divorced do they know that you're being charged for the offense how can i never tell them that also it starts does not do anything my mom and my dad i didn't know they were separated the teacher tell me that i come from separate families [Music] um a lot of patreon [Music] self-pity hatred how are you going to repay me my life are you going to give me back my tails my emotions do what you're going to take back my my cases like everything because of me like just gathering eating together and doing things together okay i sense that it's more comfortable so today we could talk a little bit more about the sensitive issues i want to find out a little bit more about you attempting suicide when was the last incident i think i do want to do it my homework what triggers you to want to harm yourself i don't know i feel like i cannot let go it's only when some wound opener then all the other ones will open as well who would you worry about most if you have to go into jail i think my my life will be easier without me i'm not even but i'm her grandson but i actually bring no trouble we are going to continue our previous interview are you a part of any secret society currently or before before okay why do you join looks like amazing back then but have a lot of friends if there's any problem just be like get involved smart you want your name to be popular like they started doing this again how many of the settlement talks like ended up in the fight we are pulling up we can't talk but then they are like very serious they started [Music] the first session what the parents reported in terms of his habits and in his history and his background did not seem to be congruent with the severity and the type of offences that he committed in this second session with the boy i'm hoping to find out a little bit more information from him what time do you come back from meeting your so do you stay out late with them sometimes no no not at all can i stay late let's say the judge decides that you are suitable for probation and then gives you a bunch of conditions to follow time restriction community service reporting sessions do you think that you're going to have a problem with the condition you've got some problems i mean i'm not used to giving him earlier i still stay from home before you say no right and then but then now you say actually you have problems with following the pr because you used to not get home a lot a lot of the times do you see how the information is very inconsistent i don't like to stay home because it was very boring like i wanted to stay with my friend i can be outside for one week three four days why the inconsistency with the information are you worried that you will affect your chances yeah even if the details are not offense related at all we still want them to be forthcoming because these could actually give us insight into the youth's offending behavior and if they are not truthful it could affect our assessment today i'm going to make a home visit to meet the family the boy the parents and just take a look around their home environment we are used to sleep together when we are homeless we are all together i don't have money also i must have my children in front of me so home visits are crucial to our investigation because we are able to pick up any concerns that were not flagged up during the interview sessions in the office from the first interview you all mentioned that he didn't start smoking until he was secretly 15 years old but he said that you know actually he started when he was probably six yeah i remember that time that one social worker came to send some food and saw him smoking in the staircase so they told me parents also you all reported that last time how often he would stay out is probably just once a month to fish oh right until about 6 a.m how come there was so much difference because he's saying that every week he'll be going out three to four days at a time i'm not sure about it because sometimes when i came back home i take my shower and then up to the sleep actually is a very good boy when he meet the age of the nation he starts to mix around with some boys that have some bad influencer at home i can control him but outside i can't control him now i'm so angry lah because he said oh his friend uh always dissima so you just want to show them i said you don't show off your mindfulness then you do stupid thing when you didn't really follow my instructions in the first few weeks then i scolded you if you are placed on probation if you don't follow instructions right you'll get 10 times worse than that you're ready or not yeah i trust him and i make sure that he pay the trust which we give it to him we had a cjtv why don't she raise about our call and check that's the cctv my instructions was was that if he wants to work um he has to ask me for approval first despite those instructions he went to work uh without informing me he was frustrated and then he responded in a way that was quite rude but then after that whatever messages i sent or any calls i made he didn't pick up we want to make sure that the jobs that the youth has applied for they're not jobs their negative peers have engaged in as well and so the probation officer would require the youth to get their permission first before applying for a job the father was very frustrated just now also i guess in the fate of anger he was telling me that she might even consider divorcing the mother this could possibly be something that has been happening for quite a while already the inconsistency in that parenting and supervision everything escalated really fast in just one day today i know for sure i assess la that home probation is definitely not suitable for him [Music] there were two incidents of him not informing me or seeking approval for me to get uh to work when he's away in hostel he's in that structure he learns to be disciplined tailors to be accountable for his own actions because in a hostel the consequences for not following the regulations are very concrete [Music] in the progression order one of these conditions may include a stay in a hostel and usually a residence in a hostel would take maybe 9 to 12 months and in that period they're only allowed to return home generally on the weekends the probation officer consider many factors in assessing whether they are suitable for probation or not whether they are involved in school or any positive activities whether they are motivated to change we also look at the severity of the offense their history of offending behavior as well as the family makeup we have to ensure that the community safety is also gathered yeah so it's difficult because there are so many things to consider and this is why we usually take a long time four to six weeks to assess a case suitability but you know this time if you're on probation is everything will be taken into account right it's just better because you didn't give me a chance because my family support you say i need you to think less about your family situation being this and that yeah looking at what you already have for you to be on probation you also need to say yes they're going to take responsibility for your own life it was difficult initially because the very first line that he told me was i'm an orphan and it struck me i wasn't sure how then could i support this person and ensure there would be someone in the community to support him so when i reached out to the grandmother then i realized that the family situation is not as bleak so on the 28th right i will be in office waiting for you right after oh i know that i can come down or not if you cannot calm down i will also be informed by the court or the issue yes i will wait for your call here if you are on probation but uh [Music] everybody say i did i'm not that happy when it wasn't my son i know that he's guilty but the decision is that he'll be staying doing in boston's home after that uh he'll be transferred to monster photography for germany then after that four months with integi at one in house probation singapore boy's home is a closed institution which is a short and sharp treatment before he starts probation so on probation he's required to reside in a hostel which is different from the singapore boy's home because he is able to still attend school or go to work in the community we talked to him we hugged him and then we said don't worry take care take care of yourselves inside because uh learning i have wrong confidence that he will do it and he will change [Music] you i'll try my best to spend more time with my grandmother and make sure not to worry her as much maybe if possible i wish to make her proud not right the judge asked me go and study but i don't mind uh it's a normal life i haven't been living like a proper [Applause] do you remember your probation conditions uh formless e-dagging the alcohol therapy image counseling [Music] cheers previously when we meet um i could sense a lot of uncertainty finally this sense of uncertainty is over because the it's a new year already it's coming already so new york knew me it's finally gonna happen usually after a person is placed on probation there's a lot of motivation to want to do well there's a lot of excitement perhaps the first three months is a period of adjustment and after that three months he would probably go through another phase the change process is not monotonous it can go up and down in the initial few months you want to increase their whole disposition and their capacity to receive that guidance as well and they must be convinced that there's value in it [Music] [Applause] yeah we went to bed at the boys homes bring him back we have bonding time for a while then i sent him to herself so far he's in the hospital he's good he said he can adjust himself over there can see a bit of change and his behavior how he stopped last time he never watched alert in hostel you have to watch everything i have to wake up in the morning you can see his changes a bit i always tell him this is the second chance that you get in future if you want to find a job or he really wants to get married when the other side family wants to know his background then he had a bad record sure there's some rejection right [Music] i want him to be a good person have a stable job and build a good family that's my hope for him [Music] some people believe that probation officers are really rigid and really strict um and then some people believe that probation officers being uh counsellors are really lenient or very soft um so that's actually not true probation officers have various roles so we do try to balance that enforcement role with the guidance role as well do you bring a phone today yes all right so we just looked through do you use steady gram as well yeah so you've been looking at cars still yeah mostly it's gym and cars can i look at your browser sorry okay so you didn't really like close any tabs or your history you just left it there right okay that's good and you're your mom does she actually still check on your devices every day in the morning she'll like scroll through all the history on this she does not mean try not to watch others like pornographic material or anything related to it i say that maybe lead me to reoffending for this case he was actually placed on probation for insight of modesty essentially he committed voyeurism he used to struggle with family related stress as well as bottom i deleted tiktok and instagram because there are some like maybe immunity or maybe females exposed these factors like contribute me to like have an increased sexual urge so i try to minimize it there's no condition to say you cannot watch porn but it's part of our intervention plan or some of them they can abstain from it so for those cases you you want to find out what's the frequency how intense for many of them it could be a trigger that could lead to reoffending behaviors a common risk factor is early exposure of internet pornography those that involve children those that involve violence or those that are voiced in nature can lead to a deviant sexual arousal pattern that means they are no longer get you know aroused by normal stimulus but if you were to see an advertisement if you watch movies um is there anything that you feel or is actually i've discovered a way to not think about it okay what i will do is stop whatever i'm doing and then i will take a deep breath and then try to clear my mind and just swipe it away you try to distract yourself in the morning i will shower in cold water daily as i think it's safe to depress the sexual urges nowadays like it's miraculously like the sexual earth does not come out as often asking these questions um getting very personal um is it is just part and parcel of the job i would actually be looking at the offense itself right so being very objective in that manner on a daily basis they have a record down like what they're thinking the frequency of masturbation the sexual thoughts that they have uh such external monitoring is important because eventually we want to build up their internal control sexual offending in itself is a very sensitive topic there's a lot of embarrassment and tendency is also for families and youths to to downplay their seriousness but it should not be minimized or trivialized in the longer run we don't want such behaviors to get more entrenched or to escalate and so if there's an opportunity to intervene early to address the issues then we should the offense happened last year at that point i was trying to seek a higher level of sexual gratification i knew that was wrong but it is very hard to shut out the unhealthy thoughts which floats my mind so majority of uh sex offenders do not have mental illness it's a means to think that they all have mental illness it is about them having distorted uh thinking about sexuality for example they might think that a girl wears short skirt may be okay to have sex and such distorted thinking will need to be corrected in interventions because it can lead to deviant sexual interest as well as given sexual arousal pattern previously i was sexually preoccupied i can't concentrate in my studies when i'm in my room alone i would have the temptation to watch pornography [Music] at the point of time i was caught i was feeling very worried and anxious to and how would my parents my siblings and even my friends feel they were very angry and also shocked my was feeling very bad there was a sense of guilt i'm also afraid that i would like lose some of my friends whenever i have a sexual urge i would tell myself that no you need to control this urge you need to suppress it no matter what you cannot reoffend again dreaming has some principles which progressively helped me to increase the levels of my self-control i'm afraid that the public would recognize me and then have different opinions about me but slowly i start to overcome that fear by stepping out of that house my family will go out for some religious events and shopping for me not to feel bored which might lead me to re-offending whenever i'm feeling down or bad if my mom has she's at home every day and i'm thankful that most of my friends supported me throughout my probation period we had an incident where you didn't turn up for work and then the internship employer actually terminated you right [Music] we had an incident where you didn't turn up forward and then the internship employer actually dominated you right what were the issues that you taught in something you can work partner mental management if let's say you wake up late because we realized that happened before right and then you am i a so what can you do update you and loves my boss why is it important to update me and your boss said that you know and then we know what can we do help help me okay so this contracting right is a promise right you know that my economist her case was transferred to me around march she has multiple risks and needs issues such as poor emotional regulation poor frustration tolerance so coupled with quite a complex family background so she also seems to like fluctuate her in terms of her motivation level and then she will sometimes also be unresponsive [Music] [Music] how do you feel about your graduation emotional so today is a big milestone for you it's towards the end of your probation already and then it's finishing nine months in hostel it's a up and down right is there anything you would read one like just now the stuff yeah even if i stay out of trouble trouble still can find me with the friends tomorrow onwards leave me a voicemail what time 9 pm 9 pm itself or before nine all right in one minute after how bridge you know uh you know very well right i'm quite worried that when she comes back to the whole environment her neighborhood when she makes us back with her old friends and it could lead to a lot of misbehaviors on her part if she can't refuse them properly on a scale of one to ten right one means her probation progress good that means her progression program is very bad since june she had some [ __ ] of a curfew so these are things that have escalated more and more over the few months you are outside today i'm doing a home visit to prepare her for a court review he's six hey why is he six not ten do you hope that you're judged before another chance yeah see my six six my six why not then so let's say not them what have you things that have not been so good tell me how about your timing do you think we need to call you you see we obviously want to make your life difficult i just want to check chief breaches like failing to comply with time restriction or failing to attend school they are not criminal offences but they are big deals we're trying to teach them that rules are important they need to follow rules and of course by extension they need to follow the law so if there's a breach of probation conditions then it's perhaps their lack of motivation to want to make positive changes and also perhaps it's a deficit in their skills most of my cases also i follow friend one of the cases it's at night so we hanging around yeah then suddenly my friend come and ask me whether i want to go like take a ride because you see one of these men never knocked actually i don't want to go yeah but they like forced me to go now [Music] of course not happy now everything is island i assume is the police investigate them first it's either they say the wrong thing or they put me in blame percy is under the wicker death after that the second one stole the hair color ah yeah again i need to bring her out then from there the last that she have to go to this family court on saturday i think but on that day sadly that she have to go to the state court then after that she have to go to the prison reminder for one month he's really shocking on that day [Music] so what's going to happen when we go back to court the judge may actually ask do you see any changes and what you hope for and is it correct to say that you hope she can continue and then she may ask you about your curfew what are you going to say you know who happened to judge save your mom position for you know how does that make you feel we look at the circumstances of the breach uh how serious the breach is and also we look at the reasons why this happened um and whether they've done it before and probation may be taken away um if the breaches are really severe that time yeah i went out if my friend afternoon then the place is fast so i reached over a bit late that one is considered i think i need to sign for music it's a written warning like i don't know like sometimes i just cannot learn but still need to go through everything sometimes i just mad at myself cannot really start with that we do see a number of probationers who struggle to keep to their curfew and that's also because they want to continue to associate with their friends and have in late night activities and they hope that they will not be caught okay another four months the judge actually gave her a port warning she was also ordered to go for a court review in february during the clock family conference we actually signed a social contract basically her saying what are the areas she want to work on exactly what is she going to do and how is the family gonna support and how is the po gonna follow up on it but i feel quite accomplished because today i also managed to get buy in from the stepfather to be more involved so this is johnny book help us learn what you have gone through in in your nine months in master so this is the favorite quote grow through what i go through and become an independent and useful human being and future because what i have to go through in hostel is so tough i was triggered by the victim she spread rumors about my family she shocked vaguely and i can't take it then i accidentally slept after that that thing went viral i remember the virals and all my family members started to pm me you know then i get shocked luckily my daughter talked to me mama my friend wanted to bring me more run i saved better so the next day i let my daughter surrender rather than this eddie come and pick my daughter right i have to write a letter to one of my family members [Music] hi my name is mother i hope everything is fine outside i just want to say that now i'm in hostel i will make four years of this time to change don't worry i'm going in here to learn a lot of new good things that will make you proud okay i love you so much wait for me to come back in [Music] it was very cool in the rock that's the worst place ever if only i turned a bit right i wouldn't end up being a probation [Music] it's quite common that we hear this comment just got away with probation people may not know enough about what we do on probation it is not just about supervision or reporting at the end of the day we also see probation as an important change element it's an important intervention in the lives of these youth in your nine months do you feel that you have improved in your firmness yes because i don't mix around people then they were on drugs and then um some of them were really caught yeah and then also some of them just released from prison then on tagging so i [Music] how does it feel locked always pressured for time lack of freedom now of course do how long has it been since december have you realized it's been so short [Music] how does it feel a lot always pressured for time which is always rush lack of freedom now of course probation essentially requires a substantial change in your lifestyle we do have probationers who tell us especially in the initial few months that it's just too hard it is too overwhelming they want to give up what's the most difficult matter what i'm just gonna have that lifeless face also that i just don't care because i didn't really care what [Music] i just failed to recognize it whatever you deem up to me the only one that evan hasn't given me is really my grandma maybe it's because she hasn't given me i pay pa i say to give up myself i want to look forward to this year but then you know you can restart scouting online so i'm looking for the radiation so where are you it's like outside here cannot be because i caught your siblings that's not what they said now sorry i need to check my mother when i could take food from my auntie house or not you don't remember or you don't want to see my number so make sure you reach your curfew right forgot now why are you taking this so lightly we just went to court you know you see you don't care you don't care about your provision then why you behave like that even after the necessary interventions if you find that this is not being taken seriously then the whole goal of probation is not there you know and essentially you are also taking you know very lightly the chance that is given for you to make comments you don't even take care of yourself properly how to take care of other people [Music] i wish you can love yourself more i'm telling you the next time we are going back to court is for bridge and i really don't know whether you can still continue prohibition [Music] if your attitude continue like this you know i said i cannot remember i can't remember you expect my memories to do it there is always going to be a consequence to the behavior as long as it's something that goes against her probation order at this stage currently we have tried to work on on the issues that she had and it doesn't seem to work so definitely because of this breach there will be a behavior consequence which is going back to court to reassess whether probation is still suitable for her or not [Music] we're here to do the closing session or the domination program with you right congratulations on finishing our probation i see myself grow from i don't know anything to like everything is like under control not everything about most all the things very tough because when it's also like it's industry when probation comes to an end uh the probation officer's role in the youth and the family's life also comes to an end yeah because we're bounded by the court order after today you got no more bo my role ends here and you're on your own you need to be independent it's considered your case is closed on the same note i also want to remind you okay probation one time finish right what do you think will happen if you get into trouble again reason do you think you will still get a chance on probation noah [Music] i cannot believe that i've finished probation i gave her some time for her to prove that she can change but now if i rate that thing about 40 percent [Music] 1400 [Music] [Music] wow this is the first time you said you were proud of me i honestly remember last time when i'm on probation she told me if anything happened to me i go inside like she want to visit me she'd want to help but then she's take him thank you for going through with me this [Music] so at the end of the day probation is not just reporting a one-off session for one and a half years to two years of your life almost every aspect of your living your progress your thinking your behavior gets to be monitored it gets to be supported gets to be challenged i went to canterman to be a witness for the police yeah because i saw some of the things happen now he reminded i'm actually disappointed angry i think i used to eat i already like free now and then someone else has to like go inside every night we built the youth and the family up on their skills things how to handle obstacles in their life we also link them up with community services because for permission it is a temporary thing they have the necessary support that they need which one is a true friend and richard is not right yeah and then i decided to just be gone from them [Music] so i don't have to think about anything i must control what i must be formed to myself also [Music] how come you feel that like it's okay to scam people if you have whiny and curry

Channel: CNA Insider

Views: 657,483

Keywords: CNA, CNA Insider, Channel NewsAsia, People stories, Asia perspective, Inside The Probation Service, documentary, probation, Singapore, probation service, youth, crime, rehabilitation, probation officer, criminal record, second chance, offence, prison, addiction, probationer, youth offender, community service, sexual offender, counselling

Id: P20BKp5ssyc

Length: 47min 56sec (2876 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 05 2021