European Journal of Probation

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Latest documents

• ‘The most stressful thing…was never the content, really’: The emotional impact PICS practitioners experience during consultation and formulation

  The Psychologically Informed Consultation Service (PICS), based in Merseyside and Cheshire, aims to help Probation Practitioners develop a psychological understanding of people on probation who are assessed as high risk and have been reported to have personality disorder traits. A role of high importance and benefit, but one that also sometimes involves exposure to highly emotive content. It is vital to consider PICS Practitioners’ emotional wellbeing. This research aims to explore the emotional impact PICS Practitioners experience during the consultation and formulation processes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven PICS Practitioners and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse the data. Five Experiential Themes were identified: Changes within PICS impacted Practitioners’ experiences of the role; advantages and disadvantages to being a removed service; high workload having negative impact on consultation and formulation process; emotional impact of the role; and an overall sense of gratitude for the role and appreciating its purpose.

• Probation counseling for substance use disorders in Romania: An analysis of challenges and opportunities

  The article aims to analyze the intervention techniques used in probation services when working with convicted persons with substance use disorders, and it is structured in two directions. The first direction includes the theoretical analysis of the concept of “substance use disorders” and the specific interventions used in the probation system. The second part of the paper highlights the results of a sociological survey based on a questionnaire administered to probation counselors in Romania. This survey highlights the strengths and weaknesses of intervention with people suffering from substance use disorders and provides a set of recommendations for counselors to apply in their work with this category of beneficiaries.

• Book Review: The psychology of criminal conduct. 7th edition
• The offender between penal policies and local practices: A history of individualised punishment

  Like many other jurisdictions, the Danish criminal justice system has used pre-sentence reports for almost a century to be able to impose individualised sanctions. During this period, suspended sentences and a range of alternative sanctions have been developed, and the number of pre-sentence reports issued has increased dramatically accordingly. These changes are often explained in terms of shifting ideologies about the relation between crime, person and society during the 20th century. However, this article argues that the larger, paradigmatic changes within penal decision-making may be articulated quite differently in everyday institutional practices. Both current and former perceptions of ‘the criminal’ thus appear as hybrid forms in judges’, probation officers’ and other professionals’ contemporary practices feeding into sentencing. The penal history of pre-sentence reports as phenomenon thus enables us to raise awareness about contemporary, heterogeneous and anachronistic constructions of the defendant that influence their punishment.

• Book Review: The Psychology of Criminal Conduct. 7th edition
• Book Review: The Psychology of Criminal Conduct
• Book Review: The psychology of criminal conduct (7th edition)
• Social reintegration of individuals convicted of terrorism in France: From paradox to blind spot?

  Social reintegration of individuals convicted of terrorism is a major issue of probationary and scientific debate. However, while the issue has made significant strides internationally, it has until now received little attention in France. The aim of this article is to highlight this difference in interest and to provide some insights into the reasons for this. It does this by drawing on a literature review of French scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals between 2012 and 2022. The article first defines the notion of social reintegration. Then, it highlights how, while the question of réinsertion of prisoners is presented as a fundamental objective of probationary practices and is a subject of interest in French research, the same cannot be said for social reintegration. This article concludes that this difference can be explained in terms of the interplay between practical and academic fields, internationalization, and interdisciplinarity.

• Finnish supervised probationary freedom as support for a desistance from crime

  Electronic monitoring enables different, more transparent and open ways of enforcing sentences. This study examines Finnish Supervised Probationary Freedom (SPF) from the perspective of a desistance from crime. We analyze what meanings sentenced people give to SPF in terms of their desistance from crime, adopting the viewpoints of moderate social constructionism and rhetorical analysis. The research data was collected from interviews of 26 people who had experience with SPF. According to the results, SPF supervision and participation in SPF activities can create a framework for practicing a crime- and drug-free life. The person’s own desire to desist is the starting point. Support provided by prison and probation employees appears to be central to the construction of a new identity. Support from social work is necessary to complete SPF, and NGO support enhances reintegration into society during the SPF. However, the opportunities on offer for reentry are limited.

• Profile of men and women sentenced to community services: Risk factors and social vulnerability

  This study explores profiles of individuals in community service, focussing on gender differences and women’s social vulnerability. Surveys from 503 participants undergoing community service via the Spanish Red Cross unveiled significant gender-related distinctions. Women faced more family responsibilities and lower incomes than men, with heightened economic challenges and engagement in informal work. Property ownership was less frequent among women, who also grappled with more outstanding mortgage payments and single parenthood. A larger share of women relied on institutional support and joined the Extreme Vulnerability Programme. These findings resonate with global research advocating holistic intervention for women offenders. However, this demands a broader array of community service tailored to women’s needs, especially concerning dependent children. Addressing core necessities such as housing, healthcare, and employment, along with enhancing self-worth and recognition, proves pivotal in deterring women from criminal behaviour. A gender-oriented approach to alternative sentencing can enhance effectiveness and compliance.

Featured documents

• The Six Month Limit to Community Measures ‘Under Prison Registry’: A Study of Professional Perception

  This paper deals with the sentence feasibility with a special focus on electronic monitoring. The purposes of this research were first to test the ‘six month limit’ idea amongst practitioners, before the Prison Law was implemented; second to determine whether they tailored their decisions...

• Judicial Rehabilitation and the ‘Clean Bill of Health’ in Criminal Justice

  Drawing on an important survey of European and Australian policies toward ‘judicial rehabilitation,’ this article makes the following arguments. First, the rehabilitation movement should return to the origins of the word ‘rehabilitation’ and focus at least as much on efforts to remove and relieve...

• What Works for Irregular Migrants in the Netherlands?

  This contribution provides an overview of the extent to which rehabilitation instruments and opportunities are accessible for irregular migrants who are serving a criminal sanction in the Netherlands. It shows that irregular migrants are largely excluded from criminal sanctions that have...

• Book Review: Johannes Wheeldon, After the Spring: Probation, Justice Reform, and Democratization from the Baltics to Beirut
• Irregular Migrants under Criminal Sanctions: Rehabilitation and After-Care Perspectives in Greece

  Prisoners' rehabilitation is not explicitly included in the basic principles of Greek Penitentiary Code; though, it is adopted in several articles of this Code, as well as in other relevant national legislation and international binding legal instruments. In a country where the number of the...

• The stigma of a criminal record in the labour market in Spain: An experimental study

  The aim of this research is to determine whether the stigma of a criminal record should be considered in understanding the precarious conditions of individuals with convictions in the Spanish labour market. Previous studies have been unable to separate this effect from other explanations such as...

• Editorial
• Rehabilitation Perspectives for Irregular Migrants: Belgium, England & Wales, Greece and the Netherlands
• Effective Practices in Community Supervision model: Staff perceptions of the model and implementation

  Staff who provide service to individuals under correctional supervision are critical to organizational change, implementation, and sustainability of policies and practices. The training on evidence-based practices demonstrates a movement toward effective interactions with community supervision...

• Punitiveness of electronic monitoring: Perception and experience of an alternative sanction

  Electronic monitoring (EM) serves as an alternative sanction to incarceration. An important aspect that remains only scarcely debated in the literature is EM’s punitiveness and, more specifically, exactly how punitive EM is in comparison to different forms of incarceration. Responding to this gap,...