Men Probation Officers: Gender and Change in the Probation Service

2001 ◽  
pp. 87-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Annison
Keyword(s):  
Probation Officers ◽  
Probation Service

scholarly journals From clients as fellow citizens to service users as co-producers of social work

Social Work ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 141-156
Author(s):  
Peter Beresford ◽  
Suzy Croft
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Probation Officers ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Work Skills ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
Income Security ◽  
Social Work Training ◽  
Work Training ◽  
Probation Service

Social work training remained the required pattern for probation officers for the first half of the last fifty years. With the abandonment of that link probation has gradually shifted its focus from ‘advise assist and befriend’ to surveillance and risk assessment. With that shift has come incoherence in management and organisation culminating in the disaster of Transforming Rehabilitation, the flagship reform introducing the private sector and payment by results. The policy on adult offenders is contrasted with the relative success of the Youth justice Board.Despite the absence of relationships from probation service publicity material, social work skills are required to engage with the issues of housing, employment and income security which blight lives of offenders after discharge.

scholarly journals Some Countries’ Experience in Organizing Professional Training and Activity of Probation Officers

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 98-102
Author(s):  
Oleh Duka
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Probation Officers ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Probation Service ◽  
Training Courses ◽  
Organizational Features

Abstract In the article, some countries’ experience in organizing professional training and activities of probation officers has been analyzed. Based on comparative analysis of activities of the Probation Institute abroad, it has been determined that probation service has different functional and organizational features in individual countries. For instance, probation service in different countries is subordinate to different agencies. Thus, probation service in Great Britain, Denmark, Japan, Finland, Norway, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Estonia is under the control of the Ministry of Justice; in the USA, Germany, Hungary, it is subordinate to the judiciary; in the Netherlands – public prosecutor’s office; in Sweden – prison authorities; in Singapore, probation service is under the guidance of the Ministry of Community Development and Sports. Another difference consists in the fact that in some countries the law defines probation as punishment (Sweden, Finland, Latvia), whereas in other countries it refers to some criminal measures (Great Britain), exemption from punishment (Estonia) or is not determined at all (the USA). Despite the differences, the goals and means of achieving them in each probation service are similar in the context of criminal law. The approaches to professional training of probation officers have been analyzed and relevant conclusions have been drawn regarding organization of probation officers’ professional training in Ukraine. In particular, work with offenders should be performed by highly qualified specialists who have a degree and who have passed specialized training courses in educational institutions subordinate to probation authorities. It is important that the content of probation officers’ professional training should be constantly updated, taking into account new approaches and methods of working with convicts, which are recognized as effective.

The right to an audience at court: Realities, risks and challenges. A qualitative study from the perspective of practitioners working in a Community Rehabilitation Company

2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Woolford ◽  
Peter Salami
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Probation Officers ◽  
Sentencing Decisions ◽  
Mandatory Training ◽  
Community Rehabilitation ◽  
New Public ◽  
Probation Service ◽  
The Right ◽  
Privately Owned

A fundamental role of the probation service is to provide advice and information to courts assisting in determining the most appropriate sentencing decisions. Historically, all probation officers as part of their mandatory training had experience in a court setting. Under the government’s Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) reforms, probation services were divided into 21 new privately-owned Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and a new public National Probation Service (NPS). This resulted in the NPS assuming the right to an audience at court by statute and the withdrawal of a right to an audience at court for CRCs. This qualitative study conducted during the summer of 2017 seeks to gain an insight into the views of CRC practitioners on contemporary court practice, specifically exploring their views on not having a professional role to provide advice and information on their caseload in court. The interviews identified four themes, reflecting both barriers to, and facilitators of, the withdrawal of the right to an audience at court by the CRC. These themes illustrated that the initial developments in the courts post-TR did not give the opportunity for active CRC involvement, resulting in increased scrutiny and criticism of their practice.

CARE OR CONTROL: THE STRUGGLES OF PROBATION OFFICERS IN WORKING WITH YOUNG PROBATIONERS WHO ABUSED PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS IN HONG KONG

2003 ◽  
Vol 37 (01) ◽  
pp. 15-27
Author(s):  
TIMOTHY SIM
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Drug Abuse ◽  
Psychotropic Drug ◽  
Psychotropic Drugs ◽  
Probation Officers ◽  
Complex Phenomenon ◽  
Probation Service ◽  
And Control ◽  
Effective Planning

Psychotropic drug abuse among young persons below 21 years old has been increasing at an alarming rate in Hong Kong recently. Probation officers when working with young probationers who abuse psychotropic drugs need to contend not only with a complex phenomenon, but be challenged by the dilemmas of the nature of their profession between care and control. This article, by drawing from a discussion with a group of probation officers and feedback from a group of young probationers, raises some issues and questions for probation service in Hong Kong pertaining to working with young probationers who abuse psychotropic drugs. Some suggestions are made for probation officers to achieve more effective planning and interventions in working with young probationers who abuse psychotropic drugs. 由 於 滥 用 精 神 药 物 是 一 个 颇 复 杂 的 现 象， 身 兼 数 职 的 感 化 官 要 有 效 地 帮 助 日 益 增 多 的 滥 用 精 神 药 物 的 青 少 年， 委 实 不 易。 本 文 根 据 一 次 与 香 港 感 化 官 的 讨 论 和 一 群 接 受 感 化 的 青 少 年 的 回 应， 探 讨 感 化 官 处 理 青 少 年 滥 用 精 神 药 物 问 题 时 所 遇 的 挑 战， 并 建 议 符 合 社 会 工 作 价 值 和 香 港 情 况 的 方 案。

scholarly journals Resocjalizacja skazanych z niepełnosprawnością intelektualną w stopniu lekkim z perspektywy dozoru kuratorskiego

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolina Goede
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Research Group ◽  
Probation Officers ◽  
District Court ◽  
Community Supervision ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
Social Rehabilitation ◽  
Legislative Proposals ◽  
Probation Service ◽  
Rehabilitation Tasks

In Poland, the function of social rehabilitation for convicts with intellectual disabilities is implemented by both: the penitentiary and probation system. In prisons there are therapeutic departments adapted to the needs of prisoners’ disabilities. In community supervision, methodology of working with offenders with intellectual disabilities is not regulated by any procedures. This paper presents results of a research focused on the probation service supervision of offenders with mild intellectual disabilities. Difficulties in implementing social rehabilitation tasks, methodology of probation officers’ work, as well as legislative proposals that may improve the probation system in Poland for offenders with mild intellectual disabilities are indicated. The study is based on qualitative methods using the focus panel method. The research group are probation officers for adults from the District Court for Bydgoszcz. The data is analyzed using legal provisions regulating probation service, as well as selected theories and concepts of special education and social rehabilitations of convicts.

Home Supervision

2020 ◽  
pp. 176-194
Author(s):  
Kenneth McK. Norrie
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Local Authority ◽  
Probation Officers ◽  
Child Victims ◽  
Authority Control ◽  
The Social ◽  
Probation Service

This chapter traces the origins of the most common outcome available to the children’s hearing – a supervision order in terms of which the child will remain in their own home. Social supervision grew out of the probation service developed at the turn of the 20th century, and was extended to care and protection cases by the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1932. The nature and role of probation officers in the early 20th century is looked at, supervising both child offenders and child victims, and the legislation governing probation is analysed. The formal shift from probation to supervision for all children subject to orders made by the children’s hearing came about with the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, under which the probation service came under local authority control, and supervision orders became the main outcome at children’s hearings. The nature of supervision in that Act and its 1995 and 2011 replacements is then examined.

scholarly journals Signs of Resistance? Swedish Probation Officers' Attitudes towards Risk Assessments

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 95-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Persson ◽  
Kerstin Svensson
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Probation Officers ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
What Works ◽  
Risk Assessment Tools ◽  
Probation Service ◽  
Organizational Logic ◽  
Risk Concept

The Swedish Prison and Probation Service has been influenced by the ‘What Works’ agenda since the late 1990's and an orientation towards risk and risk management has gradually become visible in the organization. But there is, within the probation service, a discrepancy between two types of logics — an organizational logic and a professional logic. Although guidelines prescribe the use of risk-assessment tools, they are in reality seldom used by practitioners. Through an examination of the reasons given by the probation officers who expressed doubts or concerns about the risk-concept, we question whether this could be seen as signs of resistance based on professional logic.

Restructuring Probation in England and Wales: Lessons from an American Experience

1996 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUDITH RUMGAY ◽  
MARY BREWSTER
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Court ◽  
Probation Officers ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Professional Ideology ◽  
American Experience ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Probation Service ◽  
British System ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats

The authors examine current proposals to restructure the probation service in England and Wales. A case study of a midwestern American juvenile court is used to explore the possible consequences of imposing change and constraints on the practice of probation officers, when such change conflicts with their professional ideologies. The authors explore differences between this case example and the British system of probation, in terms of professional ideology, organizational arrangements and networks of influence, arguing that the British system benefits from particular attributes that may be exploited to preserve its traditions and methods of practice in a hostile policy climate. As “street-level bureaucrats,” probation officers have considerable power to subvert policies to which they object.

scholarly journals ‘If the cap fits’? Probation staff and the changing nature of supervision in a Community Rehabilitation Company

2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt Tidmarsh
Keyword(s):  
Case Managers ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Probation Officers ◽  
Administrative Staff ◽  
Community Rehabilitation ◽  
Probation Service ◽  
Long Term Trends ◽  
Quantitative Changes ◽  
Privately Owned

This article explores the changing nature of supervision in a Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) following the Transforming Rehabilitation ( TR) reforms to probation services in England and Wales. Based on an ethnographic study of an office within a privately owned CRC, it argues that TR has entrenched long-term trends towards ‘Taylorised’ probation practice. This is to say that qualitative and quantitative changes to the complexion of practitioners’ caseloads since TR reflect a decades-long devaluation of the probation service and its staff. The decision to allocate most qualified practitioners to the National Probation Service means that Case Managers (i.e. probation service officers) now supervise offenders who would historically have been supervised by Senior Case Managers (i.e. probation officers). This loss of expertise has been exacerbated by administrative staff redundancies at the office. The result is an increasingly standardised and fragmented mode of working within the CRC in which the majority of services are now delivered by the voluntary sector.

Strengths, resources or controls? The assessment of protective factors in probation practice

2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-235
Author(s):  
Rob Whyman
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Protective Factors ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Probation Officers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Probation Service

This article is based on research that explored how well protective factors are understood, assessed and used in risk assessment within probation practice. The research was facilitated by the Sir Graham Smith Award, administered by the Probation Institute. Semi-structured interviews explored the knowledge, ability, confidence and attitudes of a sample of probation officers working in the National Probation Service. The findings suggest that understanding of the term is varied, and there are some limitations around knowledge, but that attitudes towards protective factors are positive and there is some good practice in terms of assessment.

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