I was a probation officer for most of the decade of the 1970's. After ten years, I was really fed up with the "criminal INJUSTICE system" and made a major career change. Our criminal injustice system is not about solving a social problem, crime, whatever the heck that is -- it's about judges and lawyers making a lot of money and stroking their egos. The really bad/egomaniacal ones become politicians. The really lazy ones -- including most probation officers -- just want to have a nice bureaucratic life with good benefits, play bridge for three hours at lunch and retire after 30 years. Actually, I liked the cops the best of all the participants in the injustice system, but most burn out quickly dealing with all the day to day realities: drunks, wife-beaters, experiencing mostly just plain relentless stupidity and negativity. Very boring jobs punctuated by occasional massive shots of adrenalin.