Two men return home to their communities to serve a term of supervision following their prison sentences. One gets a job as an electrician. He’s involved in his church, is drug-free, complies with the conditions of his supervision, and supports his family. He remains under supervision for years, long after he’s demonstrated his rehabilitation. Meanwhile, the other man shows troubling warning signs: drug and alcohol abuse, lying to his probation officer, and a pattern of suspicious behavior that suggests potential continued criminal activity. Both men were released in the same district, on the same probation officer’s heavy caseload, and are treated similarly by the federal supervision system.
Over 23 years of supervising federal offenders, I experienced firsthand the overwhelming caseloads and crushing administrative burdens of the job. Our current supervision system is deeply broken. It stretches officers too thin, leading to missed warning signs and decreased public safety.
That’s a problem. And it’s why Congress should pass the Safer Supervision Act.
This legislation, which is currently moving through Congress, would refocus the federal supervision system on cases that warrant close supervision while removing barriers for those already on track. In other words, it would make communities across the country safer.
I speak from experience. Of my 23 years in federal probation, 18 were as Chief U.S. Probation Officer for the Eastern District of Missouri, where we supervised thousands of cases. Here’s what I know: Focused supervision is how you prevent crime; but when resources are spread too thin, warning signs are missed.
Right now, the federal supervision system too often gets in the way of the level of focus we need to protect the public. Probation officers are buried under caseloads, allowing those who pose real risks to slip through the cracks. Officers must spend their days checking boxes on people like an electrician — low-risk, fully compliant, doing everything right — while people who pose genuine threats get less attention than they deserve. We are supervising too many people for too long, undermining our supervision system and worsening public safety.
When I took over in Missouri, we proved there’s a better way. We reduced unnecessary contacts with consistently compliant, low-risk individuals and redirected officer time to higher-risk cases. Informed by data showing that people who maintained employment during supervision had 90% success rates, we also focused on helping people get jobs through partnerships with employers, job fairs, and mentorship programs.
Over five years, we cut unemployment among people under federal supervision in our district in half. Violations dropped. Recidivism dropped. New criminal convictions plummeted, and the public was safer. That’s what can happen when probation officers have manageable caseloads and the time to provide real support to people on supervision.
The Safer Supervision Act would help make this kind of support possible in every federal probation district. A key tool to get there is early termination — a time-tested, evidence-based approach that conservative states like Missouri and Arizona have already used to shrink caseloads and improve public safety outcomes.
The Safer Supervision Act would apply those lessons to the federal system, creating a presumption of early termination at the halfway mark for people convicted of non-violent offenses who’ve demonstrated compliance and pose no public safety risk. It would restore judicial discretion to prioritize treatment over automatic revocation for drug-related technical violations. And critically, it would build individualized assessments into the system — tailoring supervision conditions to each person’s actual risk level and needs rather than applying a one-size-fits-none approach.
President Donald Trump’s signature criminal justice achievement, the First Step Act, made the country safer. It incentivized good behavior, dramatically reduced recidivism, and improved prison conditions. But he called it the first step for a reason. The Safer Supervision Act is the next logical step. It already has bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress and is backed by the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, prosecutors, and police chiefs across the country.
Think about what we’re asking probation officers to do right now. An officer issues a violation notice to the Court against a taxpaying citizen who crossed a state line to visit a sick relative. Another spends her afternoon on paperwork because someone missed a single check-in after years of compliance. Meanwhile, the cases that keep you up at night — the news stories that horrify you — sit in the same crowded stack, leaving an opportunity for another crime to be committed.
Every hour spent monitoring someone who’s been employed and compliant for years is an hour not spent protecting our communities. The Safer Supervision Act would fix that — reserving close supervision for those who need it while giving people who are doing everything right a clear path forward. I dedicated my career to public safety. The Safer Supervision Act advances it. It’s time for Congress to act.
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Doug Burris is the former Chief U.S. Probation Officer for the Eastern District of Missouri.
