Showing papers in "European journal of probation in 2016"
TL;DR: In this paper, Greenhaus and Beutell's (1985) work-family conflict model is used to understand the spillover from probation work to practitioners' family lives and show that these conflicts stem from desensitisation and the work being community based.
Abstract: Based on the close relationship between social work and probation practice, this article uses and develops Greenhaus and Beutell’s (1985) work–family conflict model to understand the spillover from probation work to practitioners’ family lives. We examine the ways spillover affects practitioners’ family lives and show that these conflicts stem from desensitisation and the work being community based. They also arise in more imagined ways, which we describe as altruistic imaginings and darker imaginings. The article concludes by highlighting the need for organisations to acknowledge spillover and its effects and makes suggestions around the provision of organisational policies. We conclude by considering what probation providers, as employers, might do to improve the situation as well as some reflective tools that practitioners might use to consider their own work–life balance with a view to improving staff wellbeing as well as effective service provision.
28 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the legal system is integrated into offender treatment theory and the criminal justice system is considered in offender treatment models, however, they have not taken into account practitioners' ethics.
Abstract: If criminologists and psychologists have studied practitioners’ ethics, they have not integrated the legal system into offender treatment theory. Offender treatment models have, moreover, not taken...
15 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors aim to achieve a better understanding of reintegration in Belgian sentence implementation, and suggest the existence of a reintegrated-oriented decision-making process emphasising the strengthening of the social capital of the offender.
Abstract: In this article, we aim to achieve a better understanding of reintegration in Belgian sentence implementation. In concreto, we ask the question if Belgian sentence implementation courts ‘are doing reintegration’. Our analyses suggest the existence of a reintegrated-oriented decision-making process emphasising the strengthening of the social capital of the offender and enabling reintegration. Notwithstanding, we identify some barriers to reintegration. Firstly, we describe how the quest for reintegration is constantly interwoven with a more risk-based approach. As a result, ‘doing reintegration’ becomes subordinated by risk, wherefore the fundamental social right of reintegration is reduced to a conditional right only applicable if the offender displays certain needs, poses an acceptable risk and/or is prepared to take responsibility for this actions. Secondly, we argue how the members of the sentence implementation courts believe in ‘psychological individualism’ and project their middle class values and e...
12 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report on the early stages of a project to develop a model of offender rehabilitation that operationalises the concept of desistance, and assess whether personalisation of prisoner rehabilitation has potential as a mechanism for operationalising the concept.
Abstract: This article reports on the early stages of a project to develop a model of offender rehabilitation that operationalises the concept of desistance. The concept of desistance is influential but operationalising it remains a challenge. The aim of this article is to assess whether personalisation of offender rehabilitation has potential as a mechanism for operationalising the concept of desistance. We identify learning from the design and implementation of personalisation in social care, but challenges include the roll out of personal budgets, developing a local market to support consumer choice and the limited evidence base on the effectiveness of personalisation. We specify a project to pilot personalisation in the English probation sector that tests concepts relating both to the design and commissioning of personalised services, including community capacity building to support the supply of personalised services at the local or even micro level. A project evaluation design is also outlined.
11 citations
TL;DR: In the criminal justice system in England and Wales, the probation duty has been recalibrated by the ideological and material forces of marketisation and competition since the 1980s as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Since the 1980s, the criminal justice system in England and Wales has been recalibrated by the ideological and material forces of marketisation and competition. Specifically, the probation duty to ...
8 citations
TL;DR: The probation service has been a key part of the criminal justice process for more than 100 years as discussed by the authors, and it deals with more offenders than the prison service; it is more successful than prison in terms of terms o...
Abstract: The probation service has been a key part of the criminal justice process for more than 100 years. It deals with more offenders than the prison service; it is more successful than prison in terms o...
7 citations
TL;DR: SOMEC as discussed by the authors is a two-year project running from January 2013 to January 2015 investigating current processes for information exchange and procedures to manage the harm posed by serious violent or sexual offenders travelling across the European Union.
Abstract: SOMEC is a two-year project running from January 2013 to January 2015 investigating current processes for information exchange and procedures to manage the harm posed by serious violent or sexual offenders travelling across the European Union. SOMEC is co-funded by the European Commission Directorate-General for Home Affairs - HOME/2011/AG/4000002521 30-CE-0519712/00-87.
SOMEC Partners, Beneficiary Partners: National Offender Management Service (UK), The Home Office (UK) Association of Chief Police Officers (UK), ACPO Criminal Records Office (UK), National Crime Agency (UK), London Probation Trust (UK), De Montfort University (UK), CEP- Confederation of European Probation (EU), Department of Justice (Prison and Probation) Catalonia (ES), Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice (NL), Latvian State Probation Service (LV), Latvian State Police (LV).
Associate Partners: The Ministry of Interior, Macedonia (MA), Probation Chiefs Association (UK), The Scottish Government (UK), The Police Service Northern Ireland (UK), Probation Board for Northern Ireland (UK), Europol (EU), Eurojust (EU).
The full field work report and other project outputs are available at:
http://www.svdv.org.uk/somec-project/
6 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the outcomes of a proposed evaluation of an offender rehabilitation programme called ReachingOut, which operates in north-west England and is tailored to the needs of Black and Minority Ethnic and Muslim offenders, are discussed.
Abstract: This article discusses the outcomes of a proposed evaluation of an offender rehabilitation programme called ReachingOut, which operates in north-west England and is tailored to the needs of Black and Minority Ethnic and Muslim offenders. The start of the evaluation coincided with the major restructuring of the probation services in England and Wales, as part of the Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) agenda. Six months into the evaluation, no primary research data had been made available for the evaluation. This article discusses the events that conspired to thwart the evaluation and analyses critically the policies underpinning TR, with reference to the literature and continuing neo-liberal governmental approaches to cost cutting across public services.
5 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compare some influential accounts of the causes of sexual offending and examine the role of socio-cultural factors in the offending process, and conclude that there is a strong theoretical argument for substantial socio cultural elements of sexual offenders.
Abstract: This article considers often contrasting theoretical approaches to sexual and non-sexual offending by comparing some influential accounts of the causes of sexual offending and examining the role of socio-cultural factors in the offending process. It also examines how desistance theories may be applied to this complex interaction between psychological factors and socio-cultural ones. The article concludes that there is a strong theoretical argument for substantial socio-cultural elements of sexual offending. It also argues that desistance theories may be applied for the same reason, but also because the causal and desistance process may be thought of as two separate processes. Moreover, and related to the second point, many criminological theories position offending behaviour not in the action that is considered a crime, but the fact that this action is a crime, meaning that both resistance to and desistance from sexual offending can be viewed in the context of general criminological theories.
4 citations
TL;DR: Commitment is defined and distinguished from motivation and job satisfaction as mentioned in this paper, and is significant because it involves strong attachments and ties to working in probation. But it is not easy to define and maintain commitment.
Abstract: Commitment is defined and distinguished from motivation and job satisfaction. Commitment is significant because it involves strong attachments and ties to working in probation. Clear benefits for w...
4 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the question to what extent offenders are involved in decisions regarding the sanction, measure and/or conditions that have been imposed upon them and evaluate Dutch legislation and practice on this point and evaluate them in light of the relevant provisions of the European Rules on Community Sanctions and Measures and the European Probation Rules.
Abstract: This article examines the question to what extent offenders are involved in decisions regarding the sanction, measure and/or conditions that have been imposed upon them. More specifically, the article focuses on the offender’s involvement in the stage of implementation (or enforcement) of a conditional sentence or measure. It analyses Dutch legislation and practice on this point and evaluates them in light of the relevant provisions of the European Rules on Community Sanctions and Measures and the European Probation Rules. The research shows that Dutch legislation and practice are generally in conformity with these European instruments; all interviewed probation officers realise the importance of involving offenders and act upon this belief. However, on some points a higher level of offender involvement could be reached, and promoting the European rules amongst probation workers – who are mostly unaware of the existence of these rules – might contribute to this.
TL;DR: McNeill concludes that probation supervision is only one vessel for desistance and is certainly not the main one as discussed by the authors and reasserts what a desistance-focused probation practice might look like (individualized assessment of inter-related factors, engaging, active, participatory relationships characterized by optimism, trust and loyalty, pro-social labelling).
Abstract: probation practice and the ‘What Works?’ or risk-need-responsivity (RNR) research and practice tradition, he considers the potential for ‘rapprochement.’ He also reasserts what a desistance-focused probation practice might look like (individualized assessment of inter-related factors, ‘engaging, active, participatory relationships characterized by optimism, trust and loyalty,’ ‘pro-social labelling’ (p. 271)) and it is perhaps surprising that this is the only concerted practice indication for probation in the collection. However, McNeill concludes that probation supervision is only one vessel for desistance and is certainly not the main one. The message for probation again is that individuals must own and navigate their own desistance voyages. In what this reader found a rather subdued Afterword, the Editors consider some of the big questions arising out of what is a very impressive collation of current knowledge. Is a general theory of desistance possible or desirable? Where are the indications for further research? Whilst acknowledging that the research base, although global, emanates from Europe, the USA and Australia predominantly, the Editors consider how far knowledge can be considered to be true generally or true in a locally situated way. They have certainly succeeded in facilitating a hugely impressive conversation about knowledge and desistance, and one that must be read by everyone with a serious interest in the field.