Book Reviews : Social Work and Delinquency (Travail social et délinquance) Léo de Bray Université Libre de Bruxelles Francs Belge 390
| Author | M.C.W. Pratt |
| Date | 01 March 1968 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455056801400114 |
| Published date | 01 March 1968 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
26
&dquo;Feelings
are
not
to
be
elicited
because
the
client
suffers
from
too
great
a
flow
of
feeling
into
action&dquo;?
This
could
spark
prof Hable
discussion
among
those
who
read
the
article.
Values
pervade
the
&dquo;casework
culture&dquo;
and
Pollak
specifically
considers
neces-
sary
&dquo;compromises&dquo;
which
must
be
faced
in
pursing
goals
with
the
charac-
ter-disordered.
The
material
compiled
in
this
book
centres
on
the
inter-related-
ness
of
social
values
and
the
values
underlying
social
casework
method.
In
&dquo;A
Concept
off
Acute
Situational
Dis-
orders&dquo;
David
Kaplan
compels
a
re-
valuation
of
the
much-despised
&dquo;crisis
casawork&dquo;.
Not
to
be
missed
for
thei,r
quality
of
sensitive
feeling
are
the
two
concluding
articles
from
The
Almoner - &dquo;Some
Thoughts
about
Dying&dquo;
(Margaret
E.
Burnett)
and
&dquo;Communication
with
the
Patient&dquo;
(Helen
M.
Lambrick).
GRAHAM
PARKER
Social
Work
and
Delinquency
(Travail
social
et
délinquance)
Léo
de
Bray
Université
Libre
de
Bruxelles
Francs
Belge
390
How
would
you
react
to
the
prospect
of
working
in
a
country
where
,proba-
tion,
as
a
method
of
dealing
with
appre-
hended
delinquents,
was
only
introduced
in
1964?
This
is
the
situation
in
Belgi urn,
the
present
work
being
a
substantial
analysis
of
the
practice
of
social
work
there,
by
a
former
Principal
Inspector
of
the
Prison
Service.
Casework
has
per-
force
developed,
in
both
theory
and
praotice, as
a
tool
of
prison
and
after-
care
work
and
at
the
enqui’ry
stages,
and
what
amazes
thins
reader
is
the
extent
to
which
the
basic
approach,
and
even
the
detailed
outworking
of
it,
resemble
casework
practice
in
this
country.
A
quick
look
through
the
footnote
gives
a
clue
to
the
’reason.
Mme.
de
Bray’s
sources
are
predominantly
American,
fl~avoured
with
an
occasional
Dutch
,re-
ference,
and
even
a
pinch
or
two
from
the
British
journal
PROBATION!
The
,book,
like
Gaesaer’s
6-aid,
is
divided
into
three
~parts :
( 1 )
the
Social
Enquiry
before
Sentence;
(2)
Social
Treatment
in
PTison;
and
(3)
Social
Treatment
in
conditions
of
liberty.
This
type
of
division
,leads
-to
problems,
since
each
situation
is
examined
exhaustively
before
the
writer
passes
on
to
the
next.
There
is
inevitably
a
lot
of
duplication
- three
separate
descriptions
of
a
first
interview,
for
example.
This
sort
of
thing
gets
rather
,wea,ring.
The
section
on
enquiries
extends
to
one
hundred
well-filled
pages,
without
going
deeply
into
the
psychological
implications,
and
often
spending
its
time
giving
sugges-
tions
as
to
the
questions
the
sociad
worker
might
ask
at
each
stage.
One
can
imagine
a
student
welcoming
~this
a.p-
proach
with
open
arms,
but
growling
more
and
more
puzzled
with
practice
on
finding
that
it
doesn’t
work
out
&dquo;like
the
book
says&dquo;!
A
student
too
will
be
ap-
palled
at
the
exhaustive
(and
exhausting)
coverage
indicated
here.
M~me.
de
Bray
’warns
that
the
book
covers
everything,
whereas
each
case
must
be
treated
selec-
tively,
but
the
overall
impression
is
that
a
social
enquiry,
for
instance,
ought
to
take
about
three
months
to
complete.
The
minutely
detained
coverage
of
an
interview,
from
the
multiple
possible
’re-
actions
of
every
sort
of
client
to
the
lightest
ges-ture
of
the
caseworker,
all
spelled
out
in
grateful
language,
gradu-
a~lly
becomes
intensely
frustrating,
and
must
be
taken
in
small
doses.
The
section
on
work
1n
prisons
is
shorter
and
more
compact,
and
has
something
to
say
about
~pre-pa~role
assess-
ments.
When
M~me.
de
Bray
gets
down
to
supervision
in
the
open,
too,
she
is
more
impressive
- the
book
improves
as
it
goes
along.
But
the
question
one
con-
stant’ly
finds
oneself
asking
is
&dquo;who
is
this
really
written
for?&dquo;.
The
blurb
an-
swers,
for
caseworkers,
magistrate,
wor-
kers
in
the
prison
system,
those
in
the
&dquo;medico-psycho-social
~team&dquo;
dealing
with
offenders,
employers,
local
author-
ities,
and
the
general
public;
far,
far
too
many
people.
One
fears
this
is
not
just
blurb
jargon.
It
spreads
.the
book
oust
like
so
much
’butter
over
a
hopelessly
large
number
of
slices
of
bread.
It
blurs
the
edges
and
confuses
the
message.
It
is
nevertheless
~of
use
as
a
refer-
ence
work - a
fund
of
ideas
for
prac-
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