Comment
| Published date | 01 March 1982 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058202900101 |
| Date | 01 March 1982 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
1
COMMENT
Probation
Journal
Published
by
the
National
Association
of
Probation
Officers
Hon
Editor:
Bruce
Hugman
Editorial
Advisory
Board:
Laurence
V.
Coates,
Jenny
Kirkpatrick
(ex
officio),
Tim
Powell,
David
Reaich
Peter
Simpson,
Andy
Stelman,
Angela
Widowson
Price
£1
(free
to
members)
PUNISHMENT
OR
HELP-11
The
arguments
put
forward
on
this
page
in
the
last
edition
of
the
Journal
have
clearly
touched
an
exposed
nerve
in
the
Service:
a
number
of
readers
(whose
letters
appear
later)
have
written
to
us
in
energetic,
not
to
say
passionate
terms
about
the
issues.
In
spite
of
what
some
detractors
may
feel,
we
un-
reservedly
welcome
this:
if
we
are
able
to
stimulate
debate
and
readers
are
moved
to
respond,
then
the
Journal
is
coming
alive
as
a
real
forum
for
dis-
cussion
and
argument
in
NAPO.
That
is
the
only
purpose
which
can
justify
its
existence.
Those
who
see
the
arguments
pre-
viously
put
forward
as
’hectoring
and
one-sided’,
as
’pious’
or
’merely
emotive’
obviously
have
to
be
taken
seriously.
They
represent
substantial
numbers
of
NAPO
members,
all
of
whom
are
signi-
ficantly
influential
in
the
direction
the
Service
is
taking.
What
is
eerie
about
that
direction,
however~
is
the
extent
to
which
it
seems
to
be
in
accord
with
the
political
climate
of
recession,
and
the
abandonment,
here
and
in
the
USA
especially,
of
financial
and
practical
com-
mitment
to
welfare
ideals.
It
is
not
true
that
words
such
as
’paternalistic’
or
’authoritarian’
are
merely
emotive,
they
refer
to
actual
values
and
consequential
behaviour
about
which
it
is
possible
to
argue-
albeit
often
with
emotion,
but
not,
there-
fore,
inevitably
irrationally.
But
reason
is
not
all.
It
may
be
the
prime
means
through
which
we
work
our
way
to
a
system
of
coherent
personal
morality,
but
it
is
also
subject
to
the
hidden
workings
of
personal,
social
and
political
values
and
pressures
which
underlie
and
shape
our
expressed
views
of
the
world.
The
debate
about
the
Probation
Ser-
vice
can
be
conducted
only
on
the
basis
of
acknowledging
the
larger
issues
to
which
it
relates.
In
this
edition
of
the
Journal
there
are
several
pieces
which
may
well - indeed
should!
- generate
controversy.
We
hope
that
such
contro-
versy
will
be
seen
to
be
crucial
to
the
vitality
and
creativity
of
the
Service
and
to
its
developing
conscious,
explicit
and
deliberate
policies.
In
taking
forward
the
particular
argument
about
punishment
and
help-
an
argument
implicit
in
some
of
the
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