Question: The head of your county's parole and probation department has tasked you with a major responsibility. Your agency has come under fire as a result of published reports in the local media suggesting that recidivism rates in the county have increased because of a lack of professionalism and ethics displayed by officers of the agency. While reviewing your internal policies, you see that the agency's code of ethics has not been updated in over 20 years. Your supervisor has decided that it is time to completely overhaul the agency's policies and training as they relate to ethics.

You are tasked with crafting a new code of ethics. Your instructions are to research different codes of ethics being used by probation and parole agencies, as well as those proposed by professional organizations with memberships in parole and probation. Your goal is to identify the broad categories that must be addressed in your new proposed code of ethics.

Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 500-750 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas:

1. Explain what parole and probation departments do.

2. Research agencies and organizations and identify at least three examples of codes of ethics for probation and parole agencies.

3. Compare and contrast the three different codes you've found. You should be discussing how the three examples are similar, as well as how they differ.

4.After discussing the three examples, decide which example you would propose adopting for your agency, if any.

5. It may be however, that no one code achieves your desired outcome, in which case it may be that you would choose to take certain elements from one or more of the examples you found. If that is the case, then describe what elements you would take from which examples.

6. Explain in detail why you picked your chosen example, or why you chose elements from your chosen examples.

7. Explain why you believe that your new code of ethics will work to improve professionalism in your agency.

8. Lastly, discuss and describe what types of training would be necessary to implement the new code of ethics in your agency.