Countries Expertise: Poland

Dan Richard Beto, Chair of the International Committee of the National Association of Probation Executives, has spent more than four decades working in the criminal justice system.  He has worked as a juvenile probation officer, a Federal Probation Officer, and as director of two community supervision and corrections departments in Texas.

He was the founding Executive Director of the Correctional Management Institute of Texas at Sam Houston State University, a position he held from 1994 to 2005, when he retired.  As head of the Institute, Mr. Beto directed a staff charged with the responsibility of providing training and technical assistance to institutional and community corrections personnel.  As part of his duties, Mr. Beto served as Director of the Texas Probation Training Academy, the Center for Project Spotlight, and the National Resource Center for Police-Corrections Partnerships.

Under his direction the Institute provided secretariat services to the Texas Probation Association, Texas Jail Association, Texas Association for Court Administration, and the National Association of Probation Executives.

Mr. Beto is a past President of the Texas Probation Association and the National Association of Probation Executives.  He has served on the Board of Directors of the American Probation and Parole Association and as a member of the Delegate Assembly of the American Correctional Association.  Moreover, he was a member of the Reinventing Probation Council of the Manhattan Institute and served as convener and facilitator of the Texas Reinventing Probation Strategy Group.  

Mr. Beto, who possesses a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a Master of Arts degree in criminology, is widely published in journals peculiar to the criminal justice arena.  He is the former editor of Executive Exchange, the publication of the National Association of Probation Executives, and Texas Probation, the journal of the Texas Probation Association, and serves on the editorial board of Federal Probation.

Mr. Beto has served as a consultant on projects funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, National Institute of Corrections, and several other agencies and organizations.  In addition, he has been involved in a number of international initiatives.