Manual for Probation Officers in New York State. State Probation Commission. Albany 1913, J. B. Lyon Co. Free.

The State Probation Commission should be sincerely congratulated upon this most valuable manual. Although it is technically limited to New York State, its usefulness will extend far beyond those limits. Its principal merit lies probably in the fact that it is a well-indexed, complete compilation of all the laws pertaining to probation in that State. The presentation of the material in its analyzed form is an invaluable addition. The laws are cited both in statutory and in chronological order. Separate chapters are devoted to the discussion of the provisions pertaining to the appointment and compensation of probation officers; of court procedure and practice; of the duties, powers and methods of such officers. Facsimiles of the forms of records used, are also taken up in a separate chapter, similarly the history and functions of the Commission. In the appendix, among other interesting material, there is also a statistical statement of the growth of the application of probation in the State.

In a book so full of merit as to opportuneness, thoroughness and analytical qualities a few suggestions are perhaps even more justifiable than in a work of fundamental weaknesses. It would seem, for example, that a chapter presenting the most important phases of the work in a continuous story-like form, comprehensible to the ordinary layman, would have increased considerably the reading circle of the book, and made it available as propaganda material. In the statistical appendix several improvements could be made. In Table 1, for example, the totals for any year of all persons are not indicated; in Tables 2, and especially 3, the development by years is not clearly presented; in Table 3 it would be very interesting to show the change in the relative percentages of “improved,” etc. The gaps in the tables are not satisfactorily explained, and in Table 6, giving the number of probation officers holding appointments, the totalling of the individual years is a decided statistical fallacy. Such faults are, however, of vanishing importance, compared with the immense usefulness of the work.

The manual may be had by all interested persons on application to the State Probation Commission, at the Capitol, Albany. N. Y. P. K.