Government response to Cm. 7972 (ISBN 9780101797221)

Redemption, Rehabilitation and Risk Management provides the most accessible and up-to-date account of the origins and development of the Probation Service in England and Wales. The book explores and explains the changes that have taken place in the service, the pressures and tensions that have shaped change, and the role played by government, research, NAPO, and key individuals from its origins in the nineteenth century up to the plans for the service outlined by the Conservative/Liberal Democrat government. The probation service is a key agency in dealing with offenders; providing reports for the courts that assist sentencing decisions; supervizing released prisoners in the community and working with the victims of crime. Yet despite dealing with more offenders than the prison service, at lower cost and with reconviction rates that are lower than those associated with prisons, the Probation Service has been ignored, misrepresented, taken for granted and marginalized, and probation staff have been sneered at as ‘do-gooders’. The service as a whole is currently under serious threat as a result of budget cuts, organizational restructuring, changes in training, and increasingly punitive policies. This book details how probation has come to such a pass. By tracing the evolution of the probation service, Redemption, Rehabilitation and Risk Management not only sheds invaluable light on a much misunderstood criminal justice agency, but offers a unique examination of twentieth century criminal justice policy. It will be essential reading for students and academics in criminal justice and criminology.

The Government's proposals for opening up probation services to competition need further thought, MPs on the Justice Committee have warned in a new report released today. The committee believes that the Government's proposals for payment by results and wider competition in the provision of rehabilitative services are limited because they separate the commissioning of prison places from the commissioning of every other form of sentence provision. They also criticised the very large and incoherent areas used for the tendering of community payback contracts, which they say should not be a model for future commissioning. The report also recommends that probation trusts are given greater freedoms - for example, over the buildings and IT systems they use - and calls on them to focus scarce resources on the frontline. MPs were concerned that frontline probation staff spend three-quarters of their time doing administrative tasks rather than meeting directly with offenders. The committee concluded that the creation of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), which effectively merged prison and probation services, has not led to an appreciable improvement in the 'joined-up' treatment of offenders; its handling of the community payback tendering exercise has not inspired confidence; and it has not proved itself proficient at running effective national contracts. The MPs are calling on the Government to commission an externally-led review of NOMS. The committee calls for leadership and courage from politicians and sentencers in supporting community sentences and recommends that the Government clarifies to the public what it means by more robust community sentences, and the outcomes they are designed to achieve. For Volume 2, Oral and Written Evidence, (see ISBN 9780215561022).

This book provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to probation. It brings together themes of policy, theory and practice to help students and practitioners better understand the work of probation, its limitations, its potential, but above all its value. Setting probation in the context of the criminal justice system, the book explores its history, purposes and contemporary significance. It explains what probation is and the practical realities of working with offenders in the community. The book also covers the governance of probation and how policy and practice are responding to contemporary concerns about crime and community safety. This book encourages readers to appreciate the practical and theoretical strengths and shortcomings of contemporary probation practice. This revised and updated new edition includes a full description and discussion of recent reforms in the probation service and the Transforming Rehabilitation policy agenda. It also offers further discussion of international perspectives on probation, including international developments and collaborative efforts between countries. This book is essential reading for trainee probation officers and students taking courses on probation, offender management, treatment and rehabilitation, working with offenders and community justice.