Editing Probation (section)

==== Probation in child support in the United States ====
{{See also|Child support in the United States}}
When child support nonpayment was criminalized in the early 20th century, probation was the primary punishment levied on nonsupporters.<ref name="Katz 2019" /> Those in favor of criminalizing nonsupport wanted a penalty that "would maximize deterrence, preserve the family (at least in a financial sense), and lighten the burden on charities and the state to support women and children."<ref name="Katz 2019" /> When New York authorized probation as a punishment in 1901, the New York City magistrates cited four benefits to probation as opposed to incarceration: "(1) 'Punishment without disgrace, and effective without producing embitterment, resentment or demoralization,' (2) judicial discretion to make the punishment fit the crime, (3) '[p]unishment that is borne solely by the guilty and displacing a system that frequently involved the innocent and helpless,' and (4) punishment attended by increased revenue to the City and by a saving in expense.'"<ref name="Katz 2019" /> The existence of probation officers in child support cases made it so the state was involved in family life in previously unprecedented ways.<ref name="Katz 2019" /> Probation officers would often attempt to reconcile separated couples, encourage husbands to drink less alcohol, and teach wives housekeeping skills.<ref name="Katz 2019" /> Employing probation in nonsupport cases also led to more revenue captured by nonsupporting spouses.<ref name="Katz 2019" /> The National Probation Association (NPA) was instrumental in the creation of designated [[Family court|family courts]] in the United States as well, which subsequently assumed jurisdiction of nonsupport cases.<ref name="Katz 2019" />