Restoring probation: A declaration of independence

Abstract

In light of the 2019 announcement by the then Secretary of State for Justice, David Gauke, that the probation service is to be re-nationalised, this paper reflects on what forms a more radical restoration might take. In essence, the paper makes a case for probation to be re-constituted as a moral enterprise; an independent agency based in the community, staffed by skilled and idealistic but pragmatic practitioners and managers, and informed by evidence of what is most likely to help people lead offence-free lives.

Can probation be rehabilitated?

“…As such, the service has been manœuvred into a place where it has not been before, and that place is far from the relatively autonomous structures of the past, when it was considered more important for probation to be embedded in and answerable to the communities it served (Bottoms, 2008; Burke et al., 2018; Priestley & Vanstone, 2019). That today's probation staff (in common with those employed by the NPS during the TR years) are part of a civil service is I think one of the least discussed aspects of organisational change, and we are yet, I think, to fully understand the consequences of this.…”

Rehabilitating Probation: Strategies for Re‐legitimation after Policy Failure

“…The reassertion of the importance of probation's independence has also found expression in recent academic commentary on the coming probation reforms (for example, Burke et al . 2018; Priestley and Vanstone 2019). It seems highly unlikely that these calls for independence will be heeded.…”

Social media: A challenge to identity and relational desistance

“……the process by which an individual desists from offending is invariably difficult to unravel and understand, and encompasses a whole range of personal and contextual changes. (Priestley and Vanstone, 2019: 335)…”

“…Social media created opportunities for labelling to occur demonstrated in the narratives of individual service users. Specifically, when their personal details were shared on social media platforms experiencing feelings, and an identity, of being an unredeemable outsider (Priestley and Vanstone, 2019). I tried not to tell anyone what happened, keep it quiet then me neighbours are turning up – oh what you at court for…messages on Facebook and that.…”

“…However:…the process by which an individual desists from offending is invariably difficult to unravel and understand, and encompasses a whole range of personal and contextual changes. (Priestley and Vanstone, 2019: 335)Commonalities highlight how it is a continuous process (B. Weaver, 2019) which is not focused around a single change in behaviour and recognises that ‘one person’s reason for changing their life…might be another person’s reason to escalate offending’ (Maruna, 2001: 25).…”