1,721,203 research outputs found
Reductionism, rehabilitation and reparation: community punishment in Scotland
No full textNo abstract available
Explaining probation
No full textMost of the contributions to this collection deal with questions about probation that have obvious and immediate practical importance not just for scholars and students of the subject but also for policymakers and practitioners—and even for the wider public. This chapter is a little different, though we would suggest that it is no less important. Here, our focus is on the question: ‘How we can best account for probation’s emergence and development as a penal institution and as a set of connected penal discourses and practices?’ In essence, we aim to set out some possible approaches to developing a sociological account of probation. This matters—and has real contemporary import—because if we fail to understand the social, cultural and political conditions which gave rise to and subsequently have shaped probation’s development, and how they have done so, then we will remain poorly placed to assess or affect its prospects. The evolution of policy and practice is always and everywhere profoundly affected, not just, for example, by arguments about technical effectiveness (and cost effectiveness) but also by the extent to which a given policy or practice proposal ‘fits’ with the zeitgeist or spirit of the times
Conclusion: the 12th question
No full textWe said in the introduction that our conclusion would summarise what can be learned from this collection, before exploring the important 12th question: what next? It makes sense therefore, to review each chapter, but perhaps a first priority is to notice again the types of questions we asked, and the types of theory and evidence to which they relate
Introduction: questions, questions, questions
No full textThis book addresses some key questions about probation. In order to avoid long and difficult discussions (see McNeill and Beyens 2013), we agreed at the outset to define probation somewhat loosely as referring both to the set of practices and to the organisations that are associated with the implementation of community-based sanctions and measures in the criminal justice system. Whatever the limits of its imprecision, this broad definition allowed us to explore a wide range of sanctions and measures that are applied in many jurisdictions (including probation, parole, supervised suspended or conditional sentences, and so on) and the diverse organisations that deliver these sanctions and measures
Probation, rehabilitation and reparation
No full textThis paper is a version of the 2nd Annual Martin Tansey Memorial Lecture, organised by the Association for Crime and Justice Research and delivered on 7th May 2009 at the headquarters of the Probation Service of Ireland in Dublin. The author would like to thank the ACJRD for the invitation to give the lecture and the probation service for their hospitality in hosting it
End of life in prison: challenges for prisons, staff and prisoners
Full text linkThe main goal of most systems of criminal justice and most corresponding institutions, such as prisons or forensic psychiatric hospitals, is to eventually release inmates and therefore organize rehabilitative work on the basis that, after their release, they should be able to live a life without further offending. On the contrary, for offenders whose future is constrained to custody and who therefore will most probably die in prison, reinsertion or rehabilitation is not an inherent goal of custody.
The chapter will explore the reasons (ageing and health conditions, delinquency at a later age and, in particular, a restrictive system of sanctions and security measures) that lead to the increase of end of life cases in prisons. Insights into the situation in selected countries provide some statistical ground for a better understanding of the importance of the phenomenon as well as of differences in cross-national perspective. Different approaches in handling end of life in prisons and related ethical questions are discussed. These approaches deal with challenges on the level of the penitentiary system, on the organizational level of the single prison, for the day-to-day work of staff, and for fellow prisoners as well as for the dying prisoners themselves
Developing effectiveness: frontline perspectives
No full textThe pursuit of 'effectiveness' is a predominant theme in contemporary probation and, increasingly, in all forms of social work. Even if it were accepted that empirical research studies have identified some principles of effective programmes, there would still be room for differing organisational and educational approaches to fostering effectiveness. This article explores the contributions and limitations of different forms of managerialism to this purpose, as well as the potential contribution that a renewed professionalism might offer. In addition, the author reports some of the findings of an in-depth qualitative research study which explored frontline workers' perspectives on the definition and delivery as well as the development of effective probation. Focussing mainly on findings concerning workers' views about factors which might have been expected to influence the development of their effectiveness, the author notes that workers had mixed views about the contributions of education, training and supervision, and stressed the significance of local peer influences. They also reported a disjunction between education and research on the one hand, and practice on the other. It is argued that, although this disjunction is consistent with managerialism in some senses, it will undermine efforts to develop effectiveness. Therefore in the concluding discussion, the author explores the roles that academics as researchers and educators might usefully play in fostering effectiveness
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