Probation and prison

Sensing probation in Canada: Notes on affect and penal aesthetics in risk assessment

“…For example, deskilled practitioners then become decoupled from resources (Fitzgibbon, 2007) as managerialism and compliance myopia represent a new norm in the information age of probation (Phillips, 2016, 2017). This has negatively influenced practitioner morale (Farrow, 2004), inviting questions about the value of probation and its legitimacy (Canton and Dominey, 2018; RA Duff, 2003; Lovins et al, 2018; McNeill, 2011; Tidmarsh, 2022).…”

“…That discrimination occurs in a paradoxical way which represents an alternative to imprisonment for some, while for others, incarceration becomes more likely (Phelps, 2013). Probation is thus fertile ground for potentiating an orientation to rehabilitation (Canton and Dominey, 2018; RA Duff, 2003; Durnescu, 2011; McNeill, 2011; Mcwilliams and Pease, 1990; Ward and Maruna, 2007); as well as the possibility for architectural reform in the context of penal aesthetics, choice-making, and design (Jewkes, 2017, 2018; McNeill, 2006; Phillips, 2014; Shah, 2020; Tidmarsh, 2021). While the value of a therapeutic alliance in probation practice means working with criminalised people (Ricciardelli, 2018), a paradigm governed by risk is convergent with the values of criminal desistance (McNeill, 2006; Ward and Maruna, 2007).…”

The role of language in probation: A creative conversation

“…It might thus be classed as disingenuous to suggest that people on probation are being tested; they are being punished. Moreover, probationer is obsolete because there is no longer a probation order on the statute books (Canton and Dominey, 2017) and it is often confused for the process by which new recruits (especially in the police) are subject to a period of probation.…”

“…This is clearly problematic for people who are no longer offending. Labelling people on probation ‘offenders’ is, as Canton and Dominey (2017) argue, akin to repeatedly telling people who are trying to give up smoking that they are smokers.…”

“…It might thus be classed as disingenuous to suggest that people on probation are being tested; they are being punished. Moreover, probationer is obsolete because there is no longer a probation order on the statute books (Canton and Dominey, 2017) and it is often confused for the process by which new recruits (especially in the police) are subject to a period of probation. 2010) defend the word offender because 1) we are talking about people who are receiving a service because they have offended; 2) probation services are about serving their 'clients' as well as the public through their public protection remit and 3) it is the offending which justifies the imposition of intrusive, community-based forms of punishment.…”