Book review: Probation: 12 Essential Questions

AuthorMike Guilfoyle
DOI10.1177/0264550517705778a
Date01 June 2017
Published date01 June 2017
Subject MatterBook reviews
PRB705778 161..166
Book reviews
163
Probation: 12 Essential Questions
Fergus McNeil, Ioan Durnescu and Rene Butter (eds)
Palgrave Macmillan; 2016; pp. 281; £68; hbk
ISBN: 978-1-137-51980-1
Reviewed by: Mike Guilfoyle, Associate Member, Napo
This edited volume draws its inspiration from a range of acknowledged interna-
tional experts on probation and criminal justice and has as its ambitious aim to
answer the question ‘what do we know about probation so far?’, arising from an
academic conference in 2009 held under the auspices of the Confederation of
European Probation.
Canton’s opening salvo offers the reader an authoritative and accessible anal-
ysis, by way of some well-honed insights into the dominant sociological and psy-
chological perspectives on why people offend, drawing particularly on some of the
main findings derived from control theory and desistance literature which apply to
current probation practice. The conjunction of motives, opportunities, agency and
structural considerations that constrain and support personal change are flagged
up. Kazemian develops and refines the relevance of desistance research in her
invigorating foray into the multiple criminological and developmental factors that
underpin social and cognitive identity change and how these have pertinent
implications for assessing the wider findings of desistance over criminal careers.
Mair offers a well-documented, if familiar, historical overview in his chapter on the
impact of probation in advising sentencing and promoting community sanctions, in
particular the shifting significance of the pre-sentence report and the possible
implications of its more recent condensed formats. He makes the salient point that
we still know little about how magistrates and judges usually read and understand
reports.
The theme of probation and its impact in terms of reparation to victims and
communities is given a slightly different inflection in Van Garsse’s chapter. Drawn
as it is from the author’s experience in restorative justice in...

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