Building Bridges
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059003700308 |
| Date | 01 September 1990 |
| Published date | 01 September 1990 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
In the interests of reinforcing hunks
P R A C T I C E between civil and criminal roles and
maintaining the united functioning of
the Probation Service, I am suggesting
a frame of reference which links
welfare report and SER practice,
highlighting the parallels in the pro-
cesses involved in their preparation,
Offence-Focussed SERs
N O T E S Few officers would challenge the asser-
tion that the primary focus of SERs
should be upon the defendant’s offen-
ding. Gone are the days when SERs
Building might have been described as ’psycho-
social assessments’ of their subjects and
might have included information such
Bridges as whether their mother experienced
any difficulties with the pregnancy
when carrying the defendant. Home
Office Circular 92/1986 thus states that
Parallels
SERs should:
between
’set the offending behaviour into
the individual’s social context, ex-
criminal and
amine the offender’s view of such
behaviour, and assess the likely ef-
civil work
fect of the range of measures
available to the court on the of-
fender and any dependants.’
Craig Steeland, a Retford probation
officer who combines court
Social factors should be brought into
welfare duties with a criminal
the report ’to the extent that they are
caseload, considers what unites
relevant to the particular offender and
the two spheres of practice.
offences before the court?
or
many probation officers,
A
Suggested SER Format
civil
work is an unfamiliar
There are many possible formats which
and
unwelcome challenge,
might be used when
preparing such an
~N
especially given the funda-
offence-based SER and many Services
~N
mental changes in welfare
have developed guidelines concerning
report practice in recent years. The
ex-
the content and presentation of
perience and skills required in criminal
reports. A typical example of such a
work may seem not particularly rele-
suggested SER format might specify
vant or appropriate. Civil workers,
that the report should address the
meanwhile, can feel...
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