The Probation of Offenders Act 1907 (7 Edw. 7 c. 17) is an Act of the
United Kingdom Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...
, commonly referred to as just the Probation Act.
Enactment
The Act was passed on 21 August and originally extended throughout the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Great B ...
. It remains in force in the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...
.
Summary
The Act allows
judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...
s wide latitude to
dismiss a charge tried
summarily against a defendant even when the court thinks it is proved, or to
conditionally discharge a defendant (whether the charge is tried summarily or on
indictment
An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a legal person, person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felony, felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concep ...
). The power may be invoked when the court is of the opinion that
In practice, cases may be dismissed under the Probation Act for a defendant on condition that he pays a contribution to charity,
[ ] or repays an amount stolen, or pays the costs arising from his actions.
They may also be dismissed where the offence is technical or trivial. The application of the Act has occasionally caused controversy where victims or persons affected by the crime feel that the dismissal is inappropriate.
Despite the name, a dismissal under the Probation Act does not put the offender on
probation
Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration.
In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...
in the sense of having to report to and engage with a
probation officer
A probation and parole officer is an official appointed or sworn to investigate, report on, and supervise the conduct of convicted offenders on probation or those released from incarceration to community supervision such as parole. Most probati ...
, unless it is expressed to do so. Indeed, if a defendant is "given the Probation Act", it does not count as a
criminal conviction
In law, a conviction is the verdict reached by a court of law finding a defendant Guilty (law), guilty of a crime. The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal (that is, "not guilty"). In Scotland, there can also be a verdict of "not proven", w ...
, although it has been known to negatively affect travel abroad.
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External links
Probation of Offenders Act, 1907
References
Parole
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1907
Criminal law of the United Kingdom
Probation