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Showing papers in "Probation Journal in 2005"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors trace the factors behind the paradigm shift from casework (in its broadest sense) to case management (more recently termed "offender management"), and then briefly draw on findings in the mental health field and desistance research to relocate the relationship element within a practice model that is focused on supporting desistance from crime.
Abstract: For decades, the relationship between the officer and offender (variously labelled as the ‘casework relationship’, the ‘supervisory relationship’ or ‘one-to-one work’) was the main channel for probation service interventions. In the modernized probation service in England and Wales, this relationship element has been marginalized, on a policy level at least, by accredited groupwork programmes and case management approaches involving referrals to specialist and other services. However, there are now promising signs that policy makers are re-instating the ‘relationship’ between the practitioner and offender as a core condition for changing the behaviour and social circumstances associated with recidivism. This article traces the factors behind the paradigm shift from casework (in its broadest sense) to case management (more recently termed ‘offender management’) in order to identify why an element of practice once regarded as vital became discredited. It then briefly draws on findings in the mental health field and desistance research to relocate the relationship element within a practice model that is focused on supporting desistance from crime.

264 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper reviewed the evidence regarding young women's involvement in violent crime and, drawing on recent research carried out in HMPYOI Cornton Vale in Scotland, provided an overview of the ch...
Abstract: This article reviews the evidence regarding young women’s involvement in violent crime and, drawing on recent research carried out in HMPYOI Cornton Vale in Scotland, provides an overview of the ch...

149 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report on the findings of a small-scale Scottish study which drew on participant perspectives to explore the attention given to probationers' social contexts in supporting desistance.
Abstract: This article reports on the findings of a small-scale Scottish study which drew on participant perspectives to explore the attention given to probationers’ social contexts in supporting desistance ...

105 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
Sam Lewis1
TL;DR: It is suggested that the vision of rehabilitation contained in recent policy documents and legislation does not match up to the theoretical model that is outlined, and that current rehabilitative efforts are window-dressing on an overly punitive ‘managerialist’ system.
Abstract: This article examines the role of ‘rehabilitation’ in contemporary penal policy. Drawing on the work of Cullen and Gilbert (1982), and Rotman (1990), it advances a rights-based approach to rehabili...

70 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In the context of probation's centenary in Scotland and the current debate about the future of criminal justice social work in Scotland, this article provided an account of the early history of probation in Scotland focusing on the rarely discussed period between 1905 and 1968.
Abstract: Set within the contexts of probation’s upcoming centenary in Scotland (in 2005) and the current debate about the future of criminal justice social work in Scotland (and probation in England and Wales), this article provides an account of the early history of probation in Scotland, focussing on the rarely discussed period between 1905 and 1968. Following Nellis’s (2001) injunction to develop a ‘historically tutored memory’ as a defence against the narrowing of our visions for the future, and drawing on Vanstone’s (2004) recent work on the history of the service in England and Wales, the article pieces together and seeks to understand a significant change in Scottish probation’s core identity and purpose from providing supervision as an alternative to punishment to providing ‘treatment’ as a means of reforming offenders. In the concluding discussion, the article briefly summarises the subsequent move towards a welfare-oriented approach after 1968 and, more recently the drift towards public protection as an overarching purpose (Robinson and McNeill, 2004). The article concludes that the current debate in Scotland should shift from ‘second order’ questions around organizational arrangements to ‘first order’ questions around which aspects of these various purposes and identities should endure in the 21st century.

28 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that we should retain a variety of approaches to domestic abuse perpetrators and support case examples from a program that until April 2005 has worked with both voluntary and mandated perpetrators in Cardiff.
Abstract: As the new probation services’ Integrated Domestic Abuse Programmes (IDAP) are being rolled out over the country, this article seeks to argue that we should retain a variety of approaches to domestic abuse perpetrators. This argument is based on a number of themes and is supported by case examples from a programme that until April 2005 has worked with both voluntary and mandated perpetrators in Cardiff. These themes can be summarized into: those that relate to the state of knowledge about such perpetrators; those that relate to the limits of a criminal justice approach to the problem of domestic violence; and lastly to the ability of programmes not placed in the criminal justice arena to more effectively engage perpetrators in change. The particular programme from which case examples are drawn is one which combines a systemic (Duluth) approach with a cognitive behavioural one but which also integrates therapeutic group work methods.

27 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article explored some of the important criminological outcomes of night-time leisure in a culture dominated by hedonism and the logical needs of the free-market consumer economy and found that alcohol-related violence is emblematic of British society at this point in its history.
Abstract: A stubbornly high level of interpersonal violence in town and city centres across Britain every weekend is gradually being recognized as a key aspect of the general problem of crime. In this article we want to explore some of the important criminological outcomes of night-time leisure in a culture dominated by hedonism and the logical needs of the free-market consumer economy. Our ongoing research into the night-time economy in its broader social and economic contexts suggests that alcohol-related violence is emblematic of British society at this point in its history; a point we have conceptualized as the ‘breakdown of the pseudo-pacification process’. Since the 1980s, the altering cultural norms accompanying Britain’s enthusiastic adoption of the free-market consumer economy seem to have opened the door for specific types of interpersonal violence, the containment of which is proving very difficult for traditional-informal techniques of control and state-centred agencies alike.

26 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The role of probation in the Republic of Ireland is poorly understood and has attracted little critical attention as discussed by the authors, and the guiding legislation is outdated and the Probation and Welfare Service does not...
Abstract: The role of probation in the Republic of Ireland is poorly understood and has attracted little critical attention. The guiding legislation is outdated and the Probation and Welfare Service does not...

18 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: There is a substantial evidence base to suggest that victimization during childhood, whether that be abuse within the family home or criminal victimization outside it, increases the propensity to commit suicide.
Abstract: There is a substantial evidence base to suggest that victimization during childhood, whether that be abuse within the family home or criminal victimization outside it, increases the propensity towa...

16 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe this as more of a practical aid to students on the research process, with the descriptions of work undertaken bringing theory to life and promoting a clearer understanding of how their ideology informed the authors' work.
Abstract: and Melanie McCarry’s account of working with young people – both offer a very valuable and thought-provoking insight into the issues which any student should bear in mind when contemplating research with potentially vulnerable individuals. Second, while the core feminist theories regarding power and control are prevalent, as one would expect, conjectural discourse does not dominate this text. Instead, I would describe this as more of a practical aid to students on the research process, with the descriptions of work undertaken bringing theory to life and promoting a clearer understanding of how their ideology informed the authors’ work. The book only contains one direct reference to the Probation Service but it was heartening to note that this was in positive terms! Gill Hague and Audrey Mullender’s chapter on researching survivor’s views regarding the statutory services notes that ‘Interviewees especially identified improvements in the last five years within the police and probation service’ (p. 151). However, they also offer a powerful argument on the need for multi-agency domestic abuse fora – of which probation officers are increasingly becoming members – to promote a more pro-active role for survivors of domestic abuse within their decision-making process. I also feel that Lynne Harne’s discussion on the complexities involved for females working with male perpetrators has relevance to current probation practice and will strike a chord with many a female probation officer. Overall, I would describe this as an interesting text, which could appeal to those either studying or working in the field of domestic abuse. The chapters are relatively short (around 20 pages) and their individual topics of concern combine to provide a ‘user friendly’ book, which the reader can dip in and out of as needed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors discusses the problems inherent in demonstrating the relationships between mentally-disordered states and crimes of violence and argues that such relationships also need to be considered against current social concerns with public protection and risk prevention in the light of media influences.
Abstract: This article discusses the problems inherent in demonstrating the relationships between mentally-disordered states and crimes of violence. Particular mental states are selected, somewhat arbitrarily, for this purpose. The article argues that such relationships also need to be considered against current social concerns with public protection and risk prevention in the light of media influences. Practice concerns are addressed throughout the article.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, self-reported offending and drug use histories of over 2000 male prisoners from four Australian jurisdictions were categorized into different offending typologies based on lifetime criminal behaviour and found that the type and level of illicit drug use varied across the different types of offenders.
Abstract: Utilizing the self-reported offending and drug use histories of over 2000 incarcerated male prisoners from four Australian jurisdictions, offenders were categorized into different offending typologies based on lifetime criminal behaviour. Eight different crime types were developed and offenders’ reported use of four drugs - cannabis, amphetamines, heroin and cocaine - was examined. The analysis found that the type and level of illicit drug use varied across the different types of offenders. Of those who had used drugs, the rates of poly-drug use were high. Furthermore, most drug using offenders, regardless of crime type, were on average more likely to commit minor offending prior to the onset of illicit drug use. The extent to which offenders attributed drug use to their criminal careers also varied. This article highlights that interventions aimed at drug use alone will have only a limited impact on reducing the likelihood of re-offending.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the evidence base to date on sexual offenders with adult victims, including reference to background characteristics, typologies, risk assessment measures, treatment and personality functioning.
Abstract: Sexual violence against women is known to be a crime which is grossly under-reported, and when perpetrators have been convicted, their characteristics appear to comprise a heterogeneous profile which has been poorly researched. This paper aims to collate and present the evidence base to date on sexual offenders with adult victims, including reference to background characteristics, typologies, risk assessment measures, treatment and personality functioning. A framework for community management decisions is described.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Findings suggest that prison drug services should be more tailored to the specific needs of both their male and female clients.
Abstract: The authors use data collected in Scotland to investigate differences between individuals entering drug treatment in prison and those entering drug treatment outside the prison setting. They also e...


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For example, this paper found that the print media portrayed privatization as a practice closely associated with profit, efficiency, and overcrowding, rather than with inmates, staff, and issues of operational quality.
Abstract: This article draws on a study of the print media’s portrayal of prison privatization, primarily in the USA. Findings reveal that privatization is portrayed as a practice closely associated with profit, efficiency, and overcrowding. Currently, the print media focuses on privatization’s external characteristics rather than on those internal traits more closely associated with inmates, staff, and issues of operational quality. Furthermore, the print media is portraying prison privatization more negatively now than at any time since its re-emergence nearly two decades ago.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore prisoner-versus-prisoner conflicts as a means of clarifying the links and contrasts between victimization and bullying, and conclude that tackling victimization, as the Prison Service Violence Reduction strategy recommends, is likely to be more effective in preventing violence than attempts to identify and punish bullies.
Abstract: This article explores prisoner-versus-prisoner conflicts as a means of clarifying the links and contrasts between victimization and bullying. The author argues that a defining feature of bullying is a power imbalance between the parties, and that most prison victimization - including insults, theft, threats and fights - lacks a power imbalance. The research shows that the majority of prison violence arises, not from bullying, but from victimization. He concludes that tackling victimization, as the Prison Service Violence Reduction strategy recommends, is likely to be more effective in preventing violence than attempts to identify and punish bullies.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present data and empirical research about the effectiveness of the suspended sentence with respect to its two main goals: reducing the use of prison and preventing offenders from re-offending.
Abstract: The suspended sentence, along with the fine, is the most commonly used alternative to prison in Spain. This sentence is generally regarded as a good sanction because it avoids the personal and financial costs of prison for occasional offenders which are not in need of rehabilitation. The main aim of this article is to present data and empirical research about the effectiveness of the suspended sentence with respect to its two main goals: reducing the use of prison and preventing offenders from re-offending. The data appear to suggest that this is an effective sentence in these terms, but the article also raises questions about the need to replace suspended sentences with more rehabilitative orders in some special cases.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Many of the issues as identified when comparing the mental health training needs and experiences of staff working in two forms of residential service - Probation Approved Premises and voluntary sector mental health services are examined.
Abstract: The recognition of significant levels of mental health need amongst people in contact with the criminal justice system has led to many new areas of partnership working between mental health and the criminal justice system. The training needs of staff within the criminal justice system in England and Wales is recognized as an important area for service development and has to date been largely unexplored. This article examines many of the issues as identified when comparing the mental health training needs and experiences of staff working in two forms of residential service - Probation Approved Premises and voluntary sector mental health services.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors consider the results of the largest study of programme effectiveness yet published, arguing that it is still disappointingly inconclusive, part because of the results themselves, and partly because of concerns about methodology.
Abstract: In this article the authors consider the results of the largest study of programme effectiveness yet published, arguing that it is still disappointingly inconclusive, partly because of the results ...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) is an evidence-based creation, conceived and implemented in haste and without the level of consultation that might have been expected as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Few criminal justice reforms have been as riven with uncertainty and confusion as the creation of the National Offender Management Service. At a time when the reform of public services is apparently evidence led, NOMS is an oddly nonevidence-based creation, conceived and implemented in haste and without the level of consultation that might have been expected. There has been much concern in the probation service at the lack of detail on fundamental issues such as the role of probation boards, the business case for NOMS, and the future role of probation officers. The recent announcement that the NOMS chief executive – who was widely regarded as bringing much needed credibility and coherence to the new agency – is leaving eighteen months after taking up the position, is likely to create further instability. As NOMS takes shape, bringing coherence to the new structure will continue to demand organizational focus and energy. In this context, there is a danger that some critical areas of probation knowledge and practice, including conceptions of effective practice, fail to develop. A number of the articles in this edition serve as a reminder of some of these areas and underline the danger of reaching premature conclusions about effectiveness under such pressure. The value to probation and therefore to NOMS of constructive relationships is the theme of Ros Burnett’s and Fergus McNeill’s ‘The place of the officer–offender relationship in assisting offenders to desist from crime’. The authors encourage cautious optimism about current developments in NOMS, and detect a renewed focus on the importance of relationships and direct work with offenders in official discourse. They argue that this bodes well for a desistance-focused paradigm of probation practice, and for a broader conceptualization of evidence-based practice in which the pursuit of ‘effectiveness’ does not entail the eclipse of the human dimension of work with offenders. Alyson Rees and Mark Rivett similarly seek to expand notions of effective practice in ‘Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend’: Towards a variety in programmes for perpetrators of domestic violence. They discuss concerns about the national roll out of Integrated Domestic Abuse Programmes (IDAP), which they expect to signal an excessively prescriptive

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present findings from an evaluation of the work undertaken by an inter-agency group to resettle individuals imprisoned as a result of their involvement in the 2001 Bradford riots.
Abstract: This article presents findings from an evaluation of the work undertaken by an inter-agency group to resettle individuals imprisoned as a result of their involvement in the 2001 Bradford riots.1 It outlines the steps taken by the group towards developing a seamless approach to the case management of offenders from prison into the community. The discussion is intended to identify the lessons that can be learned from this approach, and to inform general resettlement practice.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results suggest that only 26 per cent of the offenders had thelevel of speaking and listening skills required by the programmes, which in all cases were at or beyond the level of people expected to pass GCSEs at grades A*–C.
Abstract: While all of the programmes demanded reading skills at or above ‘Level 1’ (the level expected of a competent 11-year-old), 57 per cent of offenders in the study had reading and writing skills below this Level. Seventeen per cent were at or below the level expected of a competent 7-year-old, and 1.7 per cent were ‘pre-literate’, that is unable to read. The authors are cautious about drawing firm conclusions about the speaking and listening assessments because of variations in the data received from the probation areas. However, the results suggest that only 26 per cent of the offenders had the level of speaking and listening skills required by the programmes, which in all cases were at or beyond the level of people expected to pass GCSEs at grades A*–C. Main recommendations:


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the changes and development of penal policy and community sentencing in Hungary and argue that democratic societies must hold a carefui balance between controlling the behaviour of its citizens, whilst crucially also ensuring their freedom, dignity and human rights.
Abstract: This article examines the changes and development of penal policy and community sentencing in Hungary. As a new criminal justice system emerges, including the recently reformed probation service in Hungary, this article argues that democratic societies must hold a carefui balance between controlling the behaviour of its citizens, whilst crucially also ensuring their freedom, dignity and human rights. From the position of someone who has been closely involved with these developments and transitions in Hungary, the author questions whether the balance that has been achieved in 'advanced' democracies, such as the USA, given the excessive use of imprisonment and punitive sentencing. She:argues that an alternative model is in the best interests of ali - one that stigmatizes the offence but not the offender.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For example, Lewis et al. as discussed by the authors found that it was not always easy to identify through Probation Service databases those people under supervision who would define themselves as Irish and be prepared to talk to us about it.
Abstract: The Irish in Britain have been described as an invisible ethnic minority (Murphy, 1994) and there has been concern for some time in and around the Probation Service that they may be disadvantaged by anti-Irish prejudice in their contacts with the criminal justice system (Fletcher et al., 1997). This concern was shared by managers and practitioners in two probation areas in the North-West of England, and research was commissioned in 2003 to study the needs and experiences of offenders of Irish origin under supervision by probation officers in Britain. Three of the researchers were also involved in the large study of Black and Asian probationers funded by the Home Office (Calverley et al., 2004), and a number of the same data collection methods were used in the study of Irish offenders in order to enable comparisons both with Black and Asian offenders and with broadly comparable samples of white British offenders (Frude et al., 1994; Mair and May, 1997). The category ‘Irish’ is problematic: for example, people may not choose to identify themselves as Irish; many people in Britain who have one Irish parent might or might not be seen by themselves or others as Irish; Northern Irish Protestants might define themselves as British to emphasize their difference from Catholic Irish, but still be seen as Irish by mainland British people. Not surprisingly, we found that it was not always easy to identify through Probation Service databases those people under supervision who would define themselves as Irish and be prepared to talk to us about it. We were eventually able to interview 48 people (38 on probation, 10 on post-custody licence) and were also able to administer CRIME-PICS II (Frude et al., 1994) as a measure of crime-prone attitudes and beliefs and self-reported problems. In addition, pre-sentence reports on 30 of the interviewees were compared with 30 randomly selected reports on non-Irish defendants, using an established PSR assessment guide (Raynor et al., 1995). Readers interested in a fuller account of the research and its findings will find them in a paper in the Irish Probation Journal (Lewis et al., forthcoming), and a full report has been prepared for the two probation areas (Lewis et al., 2004). This short report is intended to draw attention to key findings only, and to some of their practical implications. Key findings and their implications:


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a comprehensive strategy for US juvenile justice system development, in the form of Howell's "comprehensive strategy" is presented, which consists of two main components: "delinquency prevention" and "graduated sanctions" targeting delinquent youth in the criminal justice system.
Abstract: offenders to the criminal justice system. The failings of this policy are explored, offering a caution to policy makers inclined towards a more punitive and retributive juvenile justice system than those currently operating. For example, in Scotland, where the children’s hearing system continues to address both young people’s needs and deeds, within a supportive, yet challenging ethos. Part Three offers an alternative direction for US juvenile justice system development, in the form of Howell’s ‘comprehensive strategy’. This consists of two main components: ‘delinquency prevention’, targeting at-risk youth, and ‘graduated sanctions’ targeting delinquent youth in the juvenile justice system. These are linked by what Howell describes as a ‘seamless continuum’ of collaborative, integrated multi-agency services, graduated sanctions and community-specific treatment alternatives for addressing offender careers at every stage in the developmental framework, with the aim of reducing risk and increasing protective factors at each stage in the developmental process. The characteristics of the rehabilitation programmes that Howell examines reflect those of the five principles of effective practice, popularized in the ‘What Works?’ approach. Howell’s comprehensive strategy employs many such accepted concepts, but he takes them further, offering a framework and a strategy for implementation and operation that demands a greater commitment to the effective prevention and reduction of youth offending from policy makers, social services and juvenile justice operators at every level. This book is as considered and comprehensive as its title purports to be. It is geared towards undergraduate and graduate students in US juvenile justice or juvenile delinquency studies, offering discussion questions at the close of each chapter, boxed studies and key definitions and concepts. However, it will also appeal to social services and juvenile justice researchers, developmental specialists and practitioners.