Showing papers in "Howard Journal of Criminal Justice in 1992"

The Socially Bounded Decision Making of Persistent Property Offenders

Abstract: The rapid ascendance of deterrence theory and other rational-choice interpretations of criminal behaviour in the 1970s was matched until recently by a failure to examine empirically the criminal decision making of serious offenders. This paper reports the results of an ethnographic investigation of criminal decision making by a sample of persistent property offenders. Following brief introductory comments, we describe our research objectives and methodology. Then we describe salient features of the decision-making processes employed by members of the sample. We argue that improved understanding of criminal decision making by persistent property offenders is gained by exploring how their utilities are shaped and sustained by the lifestyle characteristic of many of them. We suggest that offenders' efforts to acquire the financial and social capital needed to enhance, sustain, or restore enjoyment of this lifestyle may generate a bounded rationality in which they discount or ignore the formal risks of crime.

Effectiveness Measurement in Probation: A View from the Troops

Abstract: This paper examines notions of probation effectiveness being applied in one metropolitan area probation service, and considers the impact of recent managerial and policy initiatives on the work and effectiveness criteria used by probation staff. The paper is structured around a number of key themes including: the respective prominence of input and output measures of performance; factors influencing and explaining the use of such measures; perceptions of promotion criteria and survival tactics within the service, and the role of management and management information systems. Through such themes, the paper illustrates the socially constructed nature of the concept of organisational effectiveness and of management information systems. In particular, it highlights how pressures being exerted on the service have served to deemphasise the effects of probation supervision on criminal careers. The paper adds further weight to the arguments of those who question the privileged status given to accounting-based solutions to the problems of public sector management.

The End of an Era1

Abstract: This article examines the new enthusiasm among some criminologists, sections of the probation service and junior ministers in the Home Office for the rehabilitation of ‘heavy end’ offenders through programmes of community ‘treatment’ based on a ‘justice model’. It contends that the ‘Nothing Works' doctrine which emerged in criminology and penal politics in the mid-1970s has been supplanted by a ‘Something Works' doctrine, the function of which is to give legitimacy to the government's attempts to rationalise expenditure on criminal justice. It argues that this has required the probation service to adopt a mode of intervention with offenders which is no more effective than the discredited methods it has replaced and less responsive to the problems of addiction, mental ‘illness' and poverty experienced by the majority of the clients dealt with by the service.

The Comparative Costs of Community Service and Custody in Scotland

Abstract: This paper examines the costs of community service orders, and compares them with the costs of alternative custodial sentences. Twelve Scottish community service schemes are studied. Costs are disaggregated to component activities (assessment, matching, placement supervision and breaches), and average costs per offender calculated and compared. It is found that, while cheaper than custody, community service is not as cheap as recent central government figures suggest. On average, community service costs the same as about six weeks of custody. The implications for cost of changes to the organisation, funding and utilisation of community service orders are discussed.

Probation and Community Crime Prevention1

Abstract: This paper considers the involvement of the probation service in crime prevention in the light of research which suggested that probation officers find it difficult to make practical sense of the idea of a ‘community’ orientation. The traditional client focus of the service, its concern with the social dimensions of crime, and the effect of gender relations on inter-agency working all tend to inhibit officers from becoming wholeheartedly involved in this area of work. It is argued, however, that recent changes in thinking about crime prevention may increase the opportunities for the service to participate, and that it is possible to identify ways in which its contribution might be a distinctive and useful one, though the extent to which the Home Office will encourage greater involvement is not clear. The paper concludes with suggestions on how inter-agency co-operation might be managed more effectively, on evaluation, and on the relevance of some recent work in criminology.

Health Care or Punishment?: Prisoners with HIV/AIDS

Abstract: We consider the reasons for and detail current changes to the prison medical service in England and Wales We note that whilst civil society increasingly seeks redress through law, prisoners are ill equipped and relatively ineffective in using the courts Instead, a medical paradigm might be an empowering process for prisoners to improve their quality of life Delivery of an efficient health care service is a prisoner's right This is of particular importance to HIV positive and AIDS prisoners for whom the standard of health care is literally a matter of life or death

The Responsible Prisoner : Rehabilitation Revisited

Abstract: This paper was first delivered to a meeting of the Howard League in Scotland in March 1991. The Scottish tradition of imprisonment has always betrayed a healthy scepticism about the reforming value of imprisonment in itself, recognising that it is primarily a punishment which consists of the deprivation of liberty. The rehabilitation of the prisoner is likely to come about, if at all, as a result of personal change. Future recidivism is likely to be affected, positively or negatively, by external features, such as accommodation, support and employment. This realism has now been translated into a set of ideals. The challenge facing bodies such as The Howard League is to ensure that the Prison Service translates these fine ideals into fine deeds.

The Guilty Plea Discount: Rule of Law or Role of Chance?

Abstract: In this article we reconsider the ‘discount’ for pleading guilty. This stems from our discovery that about one in eight Crown Courts in five Circuits were awarding more custodial sentences to those pleading guilty than for those convicted at trial (Reverse Differential). Multiple regression analysis (MRA) of four administrative variables showed overall the ‘Not Guilty plea’ rate was significant; for remanded defendants other administrative variables were relevant. It was evident that in terms of the MRA there were deviant localities from both ‘High’ and ‘Reverse Differential’ courts. To examine this further we resort to descriptive statistics, which show that the MRA significance is produced by a minority of courts; the majority of ‘High’ and ‘Reverse Differential’ courts have, administratively, much in common. We then examine the specific administrative characteristics of all these courts and discover a paradox: ‘High’ and ‘Reverse Differential’ courts rarely share administrative characteristics, but they also vary greatly within each group. Finally we consider whether there are further advantages to defendants opting for trial in the RD courts in terms of their acquittal rates. In general there are. On this evidence we are unable to account fully for the two modes of criminal process discovered.

Caring Professionals or Street‐Level Bureaucrats? The Case of Probation Officers' Work With Prisoners

Abstract: Drawing upon recent consumer research, this article examines probation officers' work with prisoners in the light of the notion of ‘street-level bureaucracy’, and finds that many of the policies and practices of the probation service seem designed to prevent a client-centred, personal approach. In fact, there is some dissatisfaction with the bureaucratic nature of the service given by probation officers, and prisoners may be declining to become involved with the probation service because of this. Some modest changes in practice are suggested, in view of the recommendations of the Woolf Report and the likely changes resulting from it.

The Victim's Charter: A New Deal for Child Victims?

Abstract: Help and support for victims of crime have become key platforms of the government's criminal justice policy in recent years. The Victim's Charter, published by the government in 1990, is the first official statement on how victims of crime should be treated and what they are entitled to expect. It addresses, in particular, the three issues which have caused most concern during the last decade: the unsympathetic treatment of victims by the police and courts; obtaining financial compensation; and the need for welfare services such as Victim Support. It may be seen both as the official seal of approval and the culmination of years of endeavour on behalf of victims of crime. In all this discussion there is very little mention of children. The way in which the criminal justice system responds to children and young persons under the age of 17 was the subject of research commissioned by the Home Office and carried out by the authors at the Centre for Criminological Research, University of Oxford. Although a number of innovations have been introduced which relate specifically to child victims, it is argued that much remains to be done to ensure that children receive such help as they may need in the aftermath of crime, and that they are not further victimised by the criminal justice process.

Governing the probation service: probation committees and policy-making

Abstract: Probation committees are the statutory employers of all probation staff and have a responsiblity for the efficient running of area probation services. In this article the role of probation committees is investigated through detailed interviews with probation committee members and chief probation officers. It is argued that while the Home Office and probation professional associations have attempted to develop within probation areas notions of systematic management, which include the initiation, development and implementation of policy, the role of probation committee members has been neglected. The assumptions magistrate members of committees bring to their consideration of policy are of particular importance. The implication of these assumptions for race issues and crime prevention policies is analysed.

From Prediction to Presumption? The Results of a Pilot Project in Greater Manchester on the Value of a SIR Recommendation Guidelines Matrix

Abstract: The theme of consistency is one which is increasingly appearing at a number of points in the criminal justice system. The probation service has been in difficulty achieving consistency of practice as it has had to shadow the inconsistencies within and between courts and this effect has been compounded by using instruments which predict local outcomes in court and ties local probation practice to them. This piece of work shows that greater consistency can be achieved by using a simple recommendation matrix (SIR recommendation guidelines) based on probation officers' recommendation practice which in turn seems to influence court's disposal favourably. This could pave the way for the probation service to adopt an approach in which it presumes that staff will follow agreed practice rather than trying to predict and follow the requirements of different courts. At the same time, staff would be allowed to depart from the SIR recommendation guidelines after consultation in order to maintain their capacity to respond to unusual individual circumstances. The approach has particular relevance to the Criminal Justice Act which seeks to relate disposals to offence seriousness and offender suitability. In order to establish the new sentencing framework, both courts and the probation service will have to rely initially on their existing practice to some extent. The mechanism outlined in this paper thus provides a starting point for pre-sentence report (PSRs) advice to courts as a guide as to sentence. The guidelines will need to be amended through periodic review so that it is in line with recent practice and government legislation.