European Journal of Probation
- Publisher:
- Sage Publications, Inc.
- Publication date:
- 2021-09-06
- ISBN:
- 2066-2203
Issue Number
- No. 15-2, August 2023
- No. 15-1, April 2023
- No. 14-3, December 2022
- No. 14-2, August 2022
- No. 14-1, April 2022
- No. 13-3, December 2021
- No. 13-2, August 2021
- No. 13-1, April 2021
- No. 12-3, December 2020
- No. 12-2, August 2020
- No. 12-1, April 2020
- No. 11-3, December 2019
- No. 11-2, August 2019
- No. 11-1, April 2019
- No. 10-3, December 2018
- No. 10-2, August 2018
- No. 10-1, April 2018
- No. 9-3, December 2017
- No. 9-2, August 2017
- No. 9-1, April 2017
Latest documents
- Book Review: Challenging bias in forensic psychological assessment and testing. Theoretical and practical approaches to working with diverse populations
- Developing evidence based practice skills in youth justice
A number of studies have found that when probation officers, and others who supervise young people and adults on community based orders, have good intervention skills their clients are more likely to be engaged in supervision and to have low recidivism rates. The skills include, role clarification, pro-social modelling, problem solving, cognitive and relationship skills. Little research has been done, however, on the development of these skills across whole organisations. This study aimed to examine the extent to which training and coaching of probation officers, across two state youth justice departments in Australia, improved the use of workers’ skills. Audio-tapes of worker/client interviews were provided to research staff before and after training and coaching. Analysis of the audio-tapes found a significant increase in the overall use of worker skills following the training and coaching. However, the increases in the skills applied largely to role clarification, rather than pro-social modelling, problem solving and cognitive skills.
- Book Review: Queer Criminology
- Sensing probation in Canada: Notes on affect and penal aesthetics in risk assessment
Based on 6 years of probation practitioner experience in a metropolis of Canada, I provide an autoethnographic account reflecting on my fieldwork as I now commence doctoral studies. Contributing to discussions of experience in the penal atmosphere, I explore personal ethics and values, looking specifically to LSI-R software, where my experience with risk-based programming indicates a subjugation of both supervisees and supervisors. Studying penal aesthetics within the version of the software I used to assess criminogenic risk thus elucidates why evaluators tend to score their risk ratings upward rather than downward. Implications for a desistance paradigm are juxtaposed to the RNR model of offender management, where sensing visual and haptic stimuli pertains to an algorithmic governance mode limiting human connection. I conclude by reflecting on organisational values and behaviour to indicate where therapeutic alliances with criminalised people intersect criminalisation and desistance.
- Building accountability and client–officer relationships through videoconferencing: Exploring best practices for community corrections
The COVID-19 pandemic forced community corrections agencies worldwide to use remote technologies to prevent the spread of the virus. A growing body of the literature suggests that video-conferencing is poised to be a core practice within community correctional settings. However, little is known about the best practice strategies for incorporating videoconferencing into routine supervision. We address this gap by interviewing and conducting focus groups with a sample of community correction officers from the US (N = 16). We identified the presence of the law enforcement—social work dichotomy in remote settings, reflected in challenges and opportunities when holding clients accountable and establishing client–officer relationships. Our findings show that officers relying on evidence-based practices (EBPs) were able to use videoconferencing tools to overcome remote challenges. We suggest that establishing in-person relationships, adapting EBP, and taking care of logistics are critical steps to strengthen remote accountability and client–officer relationships. We conclude by discussing future research areas.
- Serious mental illness in probation: A review
Research into serious mental illness and probation is reviewed. In addition, there is a specific review of the role of specialist mental health probation staff in the United States (US). In the discussion, we compare progress with the care of the seriously mentally ill within probation in Europe and the US. We conclude that the specialist role for probation staff developed in the US has significant advantages which have been well evaluated which should be implemented, in a large multi-centre trial, across Europe.
- The European survey of probation staff’s knowledge of, and attitudes to, mental illness
There is a high prevalence of mental health disorders on probation staffs' caseloads. Approximately 40% of all clients will have a mental health disorder often compounded by drug or alcohol problems. It is therefore important that a probation officer can recognise mental illness and refer to the appropriate local agency. It is therefore important to know how much probation staff understand about mental illness. The Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLS) was distributed to probation staff in all countries registered as members of the Confederation of Europe. In this paper, overall average scores for the MHLS for each country are presented. Factors which help to explain the variation in scores are also examined such a caseload size and gender of staff member. The results are discussed within the context of a possible European curriculum for probation training. Probation (CEP) organisation.
- The European survey of probation staff’s knowledge of, and attitudes to, mental illness
There is a high prevalence of mental health disorders on probation staffs' caseloads. Approximately 40% of all clients will have a mental health disorder often compounded by drug or alcohol problems. It is therefore important that a probation officer can recognise mental illness and refer to the appropriate local agency. It is therefore important to know how much probation staff understand about mental illness. The Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLS) was distributed to probation staff in all countries registered as members of the Confederation of Europe. In this paper, overall average scores for the MHLS for each country are presented. Factors which help to explain the variation in scores are also examined such a caseload size and gender of staff member. The results are discussed within the context of a possible European curriculum for probation training. Probation (CEP) organisation.
- Serious mental illness in probation: A review
Research into serious mental illness and probation is reviewed. In addition, there is a specific review of the role of specialist mental health probation staff in the United States (US). In the discussion, we compare progress with the care of the seriously mentally ill within probation in Europe and the US. We conclude that the specialist role for probation staff developed in the US has significant advantages which have been well evaluated which should be implemented, in a large multi-centre trial, across Europe.
- Criminal careers behind foreign bars: A latent class analysis of Dutch prisoners
While at least 1900 Dutch prisoners are imprisoned abroad annually, existing knowledge on this group of prisoners is often limited to descriptions about detention conditions. The current study explores latent classes of criminal careers before entrance in foreign prisons and whether reoffending behavior differed between the distinct typologies of Dutch prisoners. Using registration and reconviction data, the results show four typologies: (a) high persistent offenders, (b) low-rate offenders, (c) sporadic offenders, and (d) long-term incarcerated offenders. Furthermore, the results indicate that high persistent offenders are more likely to get reconvicted after release from foreign prisons than other typologies.
Featured documents
- Judicial Rehabilitation in the Netherlands: Balancing between Safety and Privacy
This paper is part of a special edition on Judicial Rehabilitation, a topic that derived from Maruna's work on rehabilitation and rehabilitation rituals. It addresses the possibility of such rituals in the Netherlands. It describes which data concerning criminal convictions can be stored, how long...
- Electronic monitoring: The experience in Australia
Electronic monitoring (EM) has been introduced in over 30 countries around the world. In most English-speaking countries, it has moved well beyond experimental status and become a regularly applied penal measure. Australia has been lagging behind this world trend, as EM has yet not become dominant...
- Serious violent or sexual offenders travelling across European Union Borders: Ideological and ethical challenges of information exchange
The relative ease of international travel, coupled with open borders across much of the European Union provides capacity for some serious violent or sexual offenders to utilise these advancements to increase their opportunities to offend. In 2013, an EU-funded project reviewed existing information...
- Upgrading electronic monitoring, downgrading probation: Reconfiguring ‘offender management’ in England and Wales
England and Wales is currently privatizing most of its Probation Service and simultaneously planning to create the largest and most advanced electronic monitoring (EM) scheme in the world, using combined GPS tracking and radio frequency technology. Downgrading one, upgrading the other. Using a mix...
- Consent and co-operation in community supervision – Denmark and Norway
Neither Danish nor Norwegian legislation has explicit references to European Rules on Community Sanctions and Measures (ERCSM), No. 31 or European Probation Rules (EPR), No. 6, on consent and co-operation. Attention is drawn to similarities and differences between Denmark and Norway in relation to...
- Editorial
- Book Review: The Pains of Doing Criminological Research
- Taking Probation Abroad
At a time of extensive international exchange in probation policies and practices, this paper considers the opportunities and challenges of penal policy transfer. Using Ian Hacking's metaphor of an ecological niche, it is proposed that a number of inter-related vectors constitute an environment in...
- Interpreting performance in offender supervision: The use of observation as a data collection method
Empirical research on practicing offender supervision seems to be rather scarce in many European jurisdictions. Existing studies tend to be mostly descriptive and use interviews and surveys as methods of data collection. Moreover, comparative research on the practice of offender supervision is...
- Enabling change: An assessment tool for adult offenders that operationalises risk needs responsivity and desistance principles
This article examines the extent to which the risk needs responsivity (RNR) model and desistance principles have been integrated and operationalised in the development of the Enablers of Change assessment and sentence planning tool developed by a Community Rehabilitation Company provider in England....