Fifty Years Ago

Abstract

58have serious doubts as to whether the casework relationship is the appropriate model and, in my experience, the relationship in difficult cases comes to resemble that between parties in a commercial transaction, with appropriate secretiveness and line-shooting and the operation of punitive sanctions. The preconditions for casework are often absent as the offender's consent is not asked for, orders are made without means or social enquiries and the time limit is too short for &dquo;casework&dquo; or so indefinite as to make planning impossible. The Court usually acts on the basis of administrative convenience, without consultation. It is established that proper enquiries should precede the making of a probation order and that these shall be for a period of a year or more. If we intend to do casework under the less auspicious terms of a M.P.S.O., how can we omit these essentials? I suspect that if social enquiries always preceded the making of M.P.S.O.s, very few of these orders would ever be made, as &dquo;help&dquo; can most appropriately be given by a probation order, with the possibility of an order for costs, compensation, etc., while if &dquo;help&dquo; is not appropriate, a variety of other measures to enforce fine payments is already available to the court. First contact with a client under the terms of a M.P.S.O. can irreparably damage the chances of success in other contacts, such as probation, should the client offend again at a later time. There would scem to be a case for the re-assessment of the whole concept of M.P.S.O.s and possibly for their elimination.We should notice that they order these matters better in other social work settings. Collection of contributions towards the upkeep of children in care is not made by a C.C.O., and although almoners ceased to be responsible for the financial assessment of patients some 20 years ago, this function so blighted their image among potential clients that it was an important reason for their change of name last year. How do M.P.S.O.s affect our image? What will