Community Values And Community Justice
| Published date | 01 March 2001 |
| Date | 01 March 2001 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455050104800106 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
34
REFLECTIONS
Community
Values
And
Community
Justice
Mike
Nellis
considers
the
future
moral
outlook
of
the
Probation
Service
and
suggests
that
the
notions
of
’community
safety’
and
’community
justice’
should
be
central
values
around
which
to build
a
just
future
Service.
rim
his
article
is
centrally
concerned
JaL
with
the
nature
of
the
values
that
the
Probation
Service
might
articulate
m
the
future
and
the
way
those
values
infuse
and
mform
the
practical
tasks
that
it
is
required
to
undertake
within
a
framework
of National
Standards.
It
will
not
dwell
on
the
practical
aspects
of
community
safety
as
they
affect
day-to-day
nsk
assessment
and
risk-management,
but
mstead
address
the
moral
outlook
which
could
inform
the
probation
task,
and
the
way
that
that
outlook could
be
defended
and
commumcated
to
others.
For
several
decades,
probation
officers
articulated
their
moral
and
political
position
in
terms
of
social
work
values.
Social
work
values
are
complex
and
hard
to
define
m
a
few
words,
but
in
essence
they
have
been
about
respecting
the
digmty
and
worth
of
individuals,
seekmg
to
reconcile
individuals
and
the
commumties
and
networks
m
which
they
live,
empowenng
individuals
to
resist
forms
of
discrimmation
and
oppression
which
have
structured
their
lives
and
perhaps
shaped
their
very
sense
of
who
they
are.
It
is
these
kinds
of
values
that
have been
so
obviously
under
threat
m
the
past
decade.
The
practice
and
management
demands
on
the
Service
have
made
it
harder
to
give
expression
to
values
of
this
kind.
I
suggest
two
things
in
this
article:
first,
that
a
straightforward
reaffirmation
of
the
old
values
is
not
a
serious
option
and
this
means
that
a
new
way
must
be
found
of
expressmg
core
values;
and,
second,
that
a
commitment
to
commumty
safety -
as
a
value -
will
enable
probation
officers
to
stand
for
all
the
things
they
wished
to
stand
for
when
they
embraced
social
work,
but
m
a
way
which
makes
more
sense
in
changed
circumstances,
and
in
a
new
century.
Probation
and
Community
Safety
For
the
purposes
of
this
article,
I
make
little
distmction
between
‘crime
prevention’,
‘cnme
reduction’
and
’community
safety’.
They
all
refer
broadly
to
a
cluster
of
activities
aimed
at
pre-empting
the
occurrence
of
cnme.,
either
by making
it
harder
to
commit
in
particular
situations,
or
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