Probation Practice and the New Penology: Practitioner Reflections
Contents: Introduction Late modernity, the new penality, managerialism and the culture of organisations The development of penal and correctional policy and its impact on probation practices and culture Attitudes, values and beliefs in the probation service Reflections on practice 1: the assessment of offenders Reflections on practice 2: the enforcement of community orders and post custody licences Reflections on practices 3: case management and the supervision of offenders Probation practice in the early 21st century? Probation and the new penality: conclusions and looking forward Bibliography Index.
Moving Away from Social Work and Half Way Back Again: New Research on Skills in Probation
Research on social work in the criminal justice system was well represented in the social work literature until the 1990s. Since then, changes in the organisation, training and research base of probation practice, particularly in England and Wales, have all contributed to a separation between probation research and the mainstream social work research literature. However, recent probation research, by focusing on individual practice skills and on the quality of relationships, is producing findings which resonate with traditional social work concerns. The study presented here, based on analysis of videotaped interviews between probation staff and the people they are supervising, shows what skills are used and the effects of skilled supervision. People supervised by more skilled staff were significantly less likely to be reconvicted over a two-year follow-up, and the most effective supervisors combined good relationship skills with a range of ‘structuring’ or change-promoting skills. In effect, this can be regarded as a test of the impact of social work skills used by probation staff and suggests that a closer relationship between mainstream social work research and probation research could be productive for both.
Managerialism and beyond: the case of criminal justice
Focuses on criminal justice, and especially on the courts, as a case study to illustrate some of the main changes which public sector managerialism has imposed on public sector institutions. Presents both theoretical and empirical evidence to suggest that the relevance of managerialism is now receding as contemporary concerns and conditions are encouraging a focus on new priorities and a post‐managerial style of organization. Finally, considers the ways in which postmanagerialism is likely to develop, again using criminal justice as the case study to illustrate possibilities and their implications for the wider public sector.