» Getting Out of Jail

Risk assessment, the professional judgement model and organizational anxiety – a practitioner response to ‘In the eye of the storm: The implications of the Munro Child Protection Review for the future of probation’ by Wendy Fitzgibbon

Fellowes, E. — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:42:06 +0000

This article is a response to Wendy Fitzgibbon’s article ‘In the eye of the storm: The implications of the Munro Child Protection Review for the future of probation’. Fitzgibbon’s article (Fitzgibbon, 2012) offers a reflection on the similarities between the problems Eileen Munro identified in child protection practice, and those in probation. She questions whether a Munro Review is necessary for probation. The focus of Fitzgibbon’s article, like that of Munro’s Review, is on what is wrong with practice and policy, and what changes are needed – and what is likely given the current political and economic climate. This response seeks to further examine the challenges to best practice that Fitzgibbon explored, whilst looking ahead to the positive changes the new National Standards have the potential to foster. The climate of organizational anxiety is also discussed as a potential obstacle to any positive culture change.

An investigation into competency for working with personality disorder and team climate in the probation service

Shaw, J., Minoudis, P., Hamilton, V., Craissati, J. — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:42:05 +0000

Personality disorder (PD) is highly prevalent in offender samples and is an aggravating factor for risk assessment. Working with PD may be particularly challenging and requires specific staff competencies. However little is currently known about probation staff's competency for working with this group. Self report methodologies were used to investigate probation staff's competency for working with PD, their team climate and the relationship between the two factors. Probation staff’s competency was not found to be significantly different to a sample of voluntary sector housing workers. No significant difference was found between probation public protection unit (PPU) and non-PPU staff or between qualified and unqualified staff. Two facets of team climate were associated with improved competency for working with PD, but probation staff obtained low scores for one of these facets (team vision). There is a need for staff competency development in this field. A model for improved service delivery is proposed.

Promoting offender engagement and compliance in sentence planning: Practitioner and service user perspectives in Hertfordshire

Hughes, W. — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:42:05 +0000

The following article is based on research in Hertfordshire regarding sentence planning and offender engagement, undertaken with the support of a Graham Smith bursary. The findings suggest that interpersonal contact and relationships between service users and practitioners are of most significance in encouraging compliance and engagement. This in turn suggests that interactional practice skills should be the key focus of future training and development of staff, in terms of enabling them to plan with service users.

Identifying personality disturbance in a London probation sample

Minoudis, P., Shaw, J., Bannerman, A., Craissati, J. — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:42:05 +0000

Personality difficulties provide challenges to offender management, particularly in regard to risk and diagnosis. No provisions exist for identifying personality disturbance in probation services, despite a political emphasis on the need for specialist knowledge of this group in the criminal justice system. This article reports on a pilot project where mental health professionals collaborated with probation services to develop methods of identifying personality disturbance in a London sample. There was a disproportionately large ratio of Black/Black British individuals identified in this study. There was a high prevalence of personality problems in probation caseloads. Different sampling methods identified separate groups of high risk personality disturbed offenders. All individuals identified carried a high risk of re-offending, based on static risk assessments. Emphasis was given to the importance of using developmental variables to help identify adult personality disturbance. The study discovered a potential gap in the method by which data is collected by the national offender management service, omitting lifer custody cases in their assessment of dangerous and severe personality disorder individuals. Ideas for future research were provided.

In the eye of the storm: The implications of the Munro Child Protection Review for the future of probation

Fitzgibbon, W. — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:42:05 +0000

On their election the new coalition government appeared to be keen to review and revise child protection policy following the fallout from the Baby Peter case and the consequent crisis in confidence in social work. This article re-examines the underlying motives for this review and then investigates what the implications of the Munro review are for the future of public protection and the probation service generally.

Resources

Probation Journal current issue — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:45:18 +0000

Probation in the Republic of Korea: A compressed journey to public protection

Gough, D. — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:45:18 +0000

In 2009 the South Korean probation and parole service celebrated its 20th year. This short review details the rapid organizational expansion and cultural change within South Korea’s probation and parole service. It highlights how policy transfer and the politicization of crime is currently shaping the work of probation officers into what can be described as a compressed journey into an organization dominated by its public protection remit.

Practising Social Work Ethics around The World: Cases and Commentaries; Radical Social Work Today: Social Work at the Crossroads; Rethinking Rehabilitation: Rehabilitation, Re-entry and Reintegration; Protecting the Public? Detention and Release of Mentally Disordered Offenders

Probation Journal current issue — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:45:18 +0000

From ‘community corrections’ to ‘probation and parole’ in Western Australia

Harker, H., Worrall, A. — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:45:18 +0000

Geographically, Western Australia (WA) is one of the largest and most sparsely populated single jurisdictions in the world. Although much of the work of Community Corrections Officers (CCO) in metropolitan Perth is easily recognizable to offender managers in England and Wales, the state’s Indigenous citizens, many living in remote communities, are hugely over-represented in its prisons and pose particular challenges in respect of community supervision. The de-professionalization of CCO training and their supposed inter-changeability with prison officers led to a service that was in danger of ‘losing its way’ and whose performance was comparing unfavourably with that of other Australian states. This article traces the recent history of the post-Mahoney Report Department of Corrective Services, culminating in a return to the title of ‘Probation and Parole’, and asks whether the lessons learned in WA following this re-professionalizing process might be relevant to other jurisdictions.

A European approach to probation training: An investigation into the competencies required

Durnescu, I., Stout, B. — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:45:18 +0000

In 2010 the European Probation Curriculum Group (EPCG) carried out research into the requirements of various probation curricula throughout Europe and the potential need for a European approach to probation training. This article presents the findings of that research. It argues that there is enough similarity in the competencies required in probation training throughout Europe to make the development of a European Curriculum a viable and worthwhile project.