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Comment on Comment

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Date01 June 1975
Published date01 June 1975
DOI10.1177/026455057502200203
AuthorAnthony J. Walker
Subject MatterArticles
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and thus gain the support they need, but the Service should not leave
this to chance. What each area requires is a personnel officer or
counsellor: a professional person specially appointed and paid by the
Service, but not part of the normal &dquo;evaluative&dquo; management. In this
way, officers of all grades could seek help in a confidential and unbiased
setting. Such appointments in the Service are vital if health and sanity
are to be generally preserved.
This article has looked at the changes over the past decade in the
Probation and After-Care Service, firstly in the overall context of
change in society and the need for understanding and awareness of
these processes. More particularly, the article has focussed on the
implications for the Service and for the judiciary of the great influx of
younger officers with their differing ideologies. Much emphasis has been
placed on the need to accept openly that conflicts exist and, through
understanding and adjustment, to work through conflict situations
positively. The yearning in some quarters to go back to the days of
Home Office control of training and administration and smaller areas is
as weak as it is futile. The Service of the past is gone and the changes
and opportunities around today can be harnessed into the creation of a
much more comprehensive and effective Service.
Toffler warned about the threat and the dangers of rapid change. But
if we can equip ourselves and marshal our resources, change can then
become a stimulating and productive process. This is nowhere more true
than in the treatment of offenders. Crime is a complex and baflling
problem, but the Probation and After-Care Service has been working
on it for almost a century now. It is time we were seeing a break-
through. Perhaps the changes of the past decade have laid ·the founda-
tions for a Service with a clearer sense of vision and a higher degree of
effectiveness.
Comment on Comment
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