The Probation Officer at Court: From Friend to Acquaintance

Abstract

It is widely believed that probation officers have less influence, status and visibility in the criminal courts than hitherto, and that in some instances their relationship with the bench has declined to near‐estrangement. These changes are analysed in an historical and theoretical context; and against the touchstone of a virtually unchanging bench, the bureaucratisation of the justices' clerk and the professionalisation, bureaucratisation and increased executive accountability of the probation service are explored for explanation of the decline. Elements of a tentative solution to the problem involving organisational change and a reconceptualisation of the relationship between the bench and the probation service are offered for discussion.

Moving Away from Social Work and Half Way Back Again: New Research on Skills in Probation

“…Whilst the notion that probation was justified by its inherent humanism and moral authority survived ( Celnick and McWilliams, 1991 ), theoretical, philosophical and practical dilemmas emerged in critiques which suggested that probation might have problems distinct from its long-held social work identity ( Bottoms and McWilliams, 1979 ; Bryant et al ., 1978 ; Harris, 1980 ; Raynor, 1978 ). Moreover, the early signs of a shift away from a court-based social work service to one more focused on challenging and correcting criminal behaviour were identified by McWilliams (1981) and argued for by Haxby (1978) . Although probation remained recognisable as a social work agency, by the mid-1980s, it became more specifically focused on reducing reoffending ( McGuire and Priestley, 1985 ) with the result that more and more practitioners saw this as the main purpose of their work ( Boswell et al ., 1993 ).…”

Riots, Revolution and Rehabilitation: The Future of Probation

“…When I sent Mike Nellis a résumé of what I intended to cover he reminded me of the relevance of Bill's conceptualisation of probation work in the fourth article – ‘Probation, pragmatism and policy’ – where he contrasted the managerialist, radical and personalist schools of thought and action. Mike was spot on, but the article of his that I found most fascinating was an older one published in the Howard Journal over 30 years ago in 1981, entitled ‘The probation officer at court: from friend to acquaintance’ (McWilliams ). First of all, what a brilliant title and whilst it signifies a world gone by, there is so much in that article that still resonates today, including an early discussion of the drift from a court social work service to a correctional one firmly ensconced within the penal system.…”

“…entitled 'The probation officer at court: from friend to acquaintance' (McWilliams 1981). First of all, what a brilliant title and whilst it signifies a world gone by, there is so much in that article that still resonates today, including an early discussion of the drift from a court social work service to a correctional one firmly ensconced within the penal system.…”

Probation, Pragmatism and Policy

“…This intimate, almost cosy service, composed in large part of staunch individualists, was to be transformed through the changes which took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The effects of these changes were substantial: among the most important was a movement of the service away from the judicial towards the executive arm of the state, the bureaucratisation of the probation system, and the rise of managerialism (McWilliams 1981). The changes were accompanied by the demise of faith in the diagnostic-treatment ideal on the one hand and the rise of ideas concerning policy in relation to and within the service on the other.…”