Probation, the state and community -delivering probation services in Northern Ireland (original) (raw)

Probation Practice at the End of the Troubles: Reflections from a Distance

2013

Summary: This paper reflects on the author’s experience as a Probation Officer with the Probation Board for Northern Ireland in the 1990s, before and after the ceasefires and Good Friday Agreement, with reference to his varied experiences since then as a social work and criminal justice academic in South Africa, England and, now, Australia. It argues that although the practice setting was atypical and quite distinct from the lived experience of current students and practitioners in other places, observations from practising probation work in a civil conflict context have a lot to contribute to the learning of current students, practitioners and organisations. The paper considers the themes of restorative justice and desistance as well as occupational culture and community links. It suggests that reflections on practice in Northern Ireland might make a wider contribution to debates about the nature of probation practice and work with offenders.

Legitimacy Through Neutrality: Probation and Conflict in Northern Ireland (Carr, N. & Maruna, S.)

The conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles presented numerous challenges for the administration of traditional forms of criminal justice and has led to a variety of adaptations that have been widely discussed in the literature in criminology and transitional justice. The role of Northern Ireland's probation service is often forgotten or ignored in such analyses. This brief article is intended to begin to fill this gap by exploring how the Troubles impacted on probation practice during the Conflict and beyond. In particular, we argue that the ‘neutrality stance’ taken by probation in the mid-1970s, when officers decided to cease mandated work with individuals charged with ‘politically-motivated’ offences, has had a lasting impact on the identity and role of probation in the region. The deep immersion into, and engagement with, marginalised communities during this time, facilitated by this neutrality stance, has overlooked implications for probation practice more widely in the United Kingdom and abroad.

Legitimacy Through Neutrality: Probation and Conflict in Northern Ireland

The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 2012

The conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles presented numerous challenges for the administration of traditional forms of criminal justice and has led to a variety of adaptations that have been widely discussed in the literature in criminology and transitional justice. The role of Northern Ireland's probation service is often forgotten or ignored in such analyses. This brief article is intended to begin to fill this gap by exploring how the Troubles impacted on probation practice during the Conflict and beyond. In particular, we argue that the 'neutrality stance' taken by probation in the mid-1970s, when officers decided to cease mandated work with individuals charged with 'politically-motivated' offences, has had a lasting impact on the identity and role of probation in the region. The deep immersion into, and engagement with, marginalised communities during this time, facilitated by this neutrality stance, has overlooked implications for probation practice more widely in the United Kingdom and abroad.

The new governance of probation

The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 2002

There is a richness of material around the subject of governance and public service, much of which is relevant to the organisation of probation as a public service in the new millennium. It is possible to be excited, concerned, dismayed and excited again, all in turn, by the direction of thinking on public services. Excited by the move to citizen-centred approaches, concerned at the poverty of thinking in probation about these approaches, dismayed by some of the simplistic, negative ideas that we live with and excited again by hopes of readdressing our present and our future. This article addresses both the necessity and potential of the new Probation Boards within the strategic framework set by the new National Probation Directorate in England and Wales. The Boards have arrived, perhaps rather fortuitously, without much of a rationale, at least a written one, but they have the potential to create a strong local dimension in the administration of the service. They could make a significant contribution to the achievement of service objectives, to local communities, to community justice and not least to the hard-working probation staff whose proverbial energy and dedication we can no longer take for granted. Criminology, Probation and the McWilliams Tradition The history of the probation service and criminology has long been entwined, and the McWilliams memorial lecture series is one of the more recent expressions of this entwining. Garland (2001) speaks of criminological thinking having been located in three major social settings: the academic world, the world of government, and the world of popular culture. These are closely linked but operationally separate areas, with pure criminology mainly reduced today to the academic world. Valuable work is done here but in itself it has relatively little impact unless it actively reaches out to the wider world and addresses problems of direct concern to it. Bill McWilliams's historical and critical writing, and the first three McWilliams lectures (Pease 1999; Harding 2000; Hudson 2001) sought to do this. They should be read by everyone involved with the service. In looking here at the issue of probation governance the legacy of Bill McWilliams's thinking, particularly in respect of managerialism, of which he was a prescient critic, has much to offer (McWilliams 1992). Even his historical work has continuing relevance, not least in reminding us that long-forgotten penal measures are occasionally rediscovered. To take a small instance; his article on the mission to the English police courts (McWilliams 1983) discusses 'the cumulative principle' which in the past added many years custody to sentences for those who were deemed persistent 182

Should Northern Irish Probation learn from NOMS?

2007

The Probation Service in England and Wales is undergoing a process of significant change. The Offender Management Bill is proceeding through parliament and a new regime for supervising offenders is taking shape within the National Offender Management Service. This article outlines these changes. It suggests that this new model should be of interest to Northern Ireland, but that caution should be taken before simply replicating what is being introduced in England and Wales. Until recently, there were strong similarities between probation practice in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and England and Wales. Probation officers had the same, or similar, training, and the legislative and organisational contexts were broadly similar. There was regular movement of staff between the three jurisdictions. This situation is now changing. The Committee on the Programme for Government has agreed that probation matters in Northern Ireland will be the responsibility of the devolved Assembly, and this provides an opportunity to consider how probation in Northern Ireland should be organised in the future. In this context, it is worth considering the fundamental changes, and the controversy surrounding them, to probation practice in England and Wales. The reorganisation of the Probation Service in England and Wales is one of the most radical in its history. Proposals in the Offender Management Bill include the introduction of end-to-end management for offenders, and allowing private and voluntary bodies to bid to provide probation services. The government argues that these reforms will reduce reoffending and address some of the perceived shortcomings of the present probation regime. Opponents of the proposals contend that the changes amount to the destruction of the Probation Service. This article outlines the development of these changes and some of the arguments in favour of and against them.

CHANGING SHAPE AND SHIFTING BOUNDARIES - THE MEDIA PORTRAYAL OF PROBATION IN IRELAND

Literature on the media representation of probation highlights that probation as a ‘brand’ and concept is poorly understood and lacks public visibility. This has implications for its legitimacy and credibility. In this article we explore probation’s visibility in one country, the Republic of Ireland, through a critical analysis of print media representations of probationover a 12-year period (2001 to 2012). While our study finds that the majority of the coverage of probation was either positive or neutral in tone, we note a recent shift towards a more negative tone that we argue is reflective of the changing shape of the penal-probation boundaries. These changes are linked to resourcing of the criminal justice system and have implications for the public perception of probation.