Showing papers in "European journal of probation in 2009"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a presentation entitled "What Works in Probation" based on a much more extensive and separately published report about the effectiveness of offender supervision, and argue that despite the apparently technical nature of questions of effectiveness, in fact any considered and critical analysis of the empirical evidence about desistance, rehabilitation and what works? compel us to consider the moral character and context of criminal justice interventions.
Abstract: This paper is based on a presentation entitled ‘What Works in Probation’, delivered to an Invitational Conference for Directors of Probation Services in Europe organised by the Council of Europe, the Conference Permanente Europeenne de la Probation and the French Ministry of Justice at the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg (26 th -28 th November, 2008). Drawing on a much more extensive and separately published report about the effectiveness of offender supervision (McNeill, 2009), I try to argue here that, despite the apparently technical nature of questions of effectiveness, in fact any considered and critical analysis of the empirical evidence about desistance, rehabilitation and’ what works?’ compel us to consider the moral character and context of criminal justice interventions.
106 citations
TL;DR: The authors considers the variety of theoretical justifications, or moral arguments, which have been put forward to support approaches that can be broadly described as "rehabilitative" and argues that justifications which emphasise offenders, victims and/or communities as beneficiaries of rehabilitation need not be in conflict; nor should probation services have to choose between the broad ranges of stakeholders they are potentially able to serve.
Abstract: This article considers the variety of theoretical justifications, or moral arguments, which have been put forward to support approaches that can be broadly described as ‘rehabilitative’. The article takes an historical approach, tracing the development of ideas supportive of rehabilitation which begins with the origins of probation in England & Wales, and the Christian mission to ‘save souls’. In the twentieth century context, we consider the emergence of a utilitarian emphasis on maximising decent and productive members of society, subsequently challenged by arguments which emphasised stateobligated or ‘rights-based’ rehabilitation. More recently, utilitarian arguments emphasising rehabilitation’s contribution to public safety and ‘risk reduction’ have risen to the fore. However, we argue that justifications which emphasise offenders, victims and/or communities as beneficiaries of rehabilitation need not be in conflict; nor should probation services have to choose between the broad ranges of stakeholders they are potentially able to serve.
57 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that electronic monitoring should be understood primarily as a particular form and experience of surveillance, because the precise regulatory regime which it imposes on offenders (including the element of confinement) is only made possible by remote sensing technology, and has collateral effects alongside confinement.
Abstract: Electronic monitoring (EM) is now widely used in Western Europe, but its precise nature as a distinct form of penal sanction remains unclear. Since its advent in the USA in the 1980s, it has been most commonly characterized as a form of confinement and seen as an analogue of imprisonment. The names it had been given - “home detention”, “community custody” and “curfew”, for example - reflect this view. The surveillant aspects of EM have been vaguely acknowledged, but have relied on dubious ocular metaphors, and remain undertheorised. This paper will argue that EM should be understood primarily as a particular form and experience of surveillance, because the precise regulatory regime which it imposes on offenders (including the element of confinement) is only made possible by remote sensing technology, and has collateral effects alongside confinement. The paper concludes by tentatively placing this new, surveillant conceptualization of EM within contemporary debates on the changing nature of penalty.
46 citations
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TL;DR: Pro-social modelling is increasingly becoming recognised as a key skill in the supervision of offenders as mentioned in this paper, and the research support for its use and use is discussed in detail in this paper.
Abstract: Pro-social modelling is increasingly becoming recognised as a key skill in the supervision of offenders. This paper defines pro-social modelling discusses the research support for its use and descr...
41 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the opportunities and challenges of penal policy transfer and propose that a number of inter-related vectors constitute an environment in which a transfer might thrive or fail.
Abstract: At a time of extensive international exchange in probation policies and practices, this paper considers the opportunities and challenges of penal policy transfer. Using Ian Hacking’s metaphor of an ecological niche, it is proposed that a number of inter-related vectors constitute an environment in which a transfer might thrive (or fail). A preliminary attempt is made to identify some of these influences. It is argued that the success criteria of transfer have been insufficiently discussed. Transfer can fail, but can also become corrupted. It is proposed that the enhancement of human rights is the single most important criterion for evaluating transfer.
24 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an expanded ethical canvass from which to approach correctional practice with offenders is provided, and the cornerstone of this broader ethical perspective will be the concept of human dignity and its protection by human rights norms and theories.
Abstract: Interventions with offenders have a normative layer as well as a scientific basis and therefore it is not possible to quarantine ethical questions from discussions of best practice. My aim in this paper is to provide an expanded ethical canvass from which to approach correctional practice with offenders. The cornerstone of this broader ethical perspective will be the concept of human dignity and its protection by human rights norms and theories. I also explore the relationship between responses to crime and offender rehabilitation based on an enriched theory of punishment that is sensitive to offenders’ moral equality and their attendant rights.
17 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors address the question how far European initiatives on community sanctions and measures as well as the attitude towards them and their implementation by the Member States reflect "the punitive turn" or rather show a tendency to resist punitiveness in European penal policies.
Abstract: The article addresses the question how far European initiatives on Community Sanctions and Measures as well as the attitude towards them and their implementation by the Member States reflect “the punitive turn” or rather show a tendency to “resist punitiveness” in European penal policies. After presenting the Council of Europe’s European Rules on Community Sanctions and Measures (ER CSM) of 1992 its provision regarding the co-operation and consent of the offender is considered in more detail. The change of penal climate in the Member States and its reflection by the update of the ER CSM in 2000 is described then, using the example of sanctions of indeterminate duration and Electronic Monitoring. Finally, the European Union’s Framework Decision on the supervision of probation measures and alternative sanctions (adopted 2008) and possible obstacles with regard to its implementation are introduced briefly.
10 citations
TL;DR: In 2000 and 2004 two Bills were passed which significantly improved the procedure and granted the Juge and the Tribunal de l'application des peines (known as Jap and Tap) the status of a regular Court of law as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: French post custody law (sentence execution law) has been through a host of reforms over the last decade. Originally this legal field was rather empirical, with only a moderate participation of the Judiciary. In 2000 and 2004 two Bills were passed which significantly improved the procedure and granted the Juge and the Tribunal de l’application des peines (known as Jap and Tap) the status of a regular Court of law. 9/11 then had a radical effect on criminal policies. It started affecting post custody in 2005. From then on ‘tough on crime’ Bills were to be passed. They created ‘safety measures’, marginalized the Jap and the Tap, and defined several categories of ‘monsters’ or recidivists who were to be neutralised.
6 citations
TL;DR: Probation developed throughout the world as a result of a variety of different elements and social conditions coinciding within a relatively short period of time at the end of the 19 th century and beginning of the 20 th century.
Abstract: Probation developed throughout the world as a result of a variety of different elements and social conditions coinciding within a relatively short period of time at the end of the 19 th century and beginning of the 20 th century. Amongst these were the efforts of a number of people from different disciplines who shared an interest in giving people who were at the beginning of their criminal careers a second chance. This paper highlights the contributions of three of these people in an attempt to throw more light on how the concept of probation passed into law, how it attracted disparate interests in Europe, and what that reveals about the state of probation today.
1 citations