Early Termination of Probation: the case against
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059304000303 |
| Published date | 01 October 1993 |
| Date | 01 October 1993 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
133
Early
Termination
of
Probation:
the
case
against
Revocation
of
probation
orders
as
a
mark
of
good
progress
seems
to
have
the
support
of
practitioners,
managers,
magistrates
and
the
Home
Office.
Nick
Shelley,
Senior
Probation
Officer
in
Nottinghamshire,
questions
this
consensus
and
suggests
that
the
traditional
view
of
discharging
probation
orders
is
at
odds
with
the
principles
of the
Criminal
Justice
Act
1991
and
with
contemporary
practice.
y
proposition
is
simple
and
v
radical:
virtually
all
early
terminations
of
probation
orders
are
inappropnate.
Routme
applications
for
revocation
should
cease
Early
termination
under
Schedule
2
Part
III
of
the
Criminal
Justice
Act
1991
should
be
applied
for
only
in
exceptional
circumstances.
Probationers
whose
orders
would
now
be
terminated
early
should
be
offered
only
nominal
contact
at
monthly
intervals.
Smce
October
1992,
the
risk
of
re-sentencing
if
the
probationer
re-
offends
during
the
currency
of
the
order
is
restricted
to
very
limited
circumstances,
so
the
previous
advantage
of
early
discharge
no
longer
applies.
Early
termination
is
currently
attractive
to
various
interests
for
different
reasons.
Pro-
bation
officers
regard
it
as
a
modest
reward
for
co-operation
given
by
clients.
It
also
removes
the
remaining
vestigial
powers
of
re-sentencing
after
a
conviction,
which
is
still
available
in
certain
instances
to
some
courts.
It
helps
to
prune
’dead’
cases
from
the
Service’s
workload.
For
managers,
the
appeal
of
early
termination
is
that
the
activity
produces
a
’discharge
rate’
which,
to
some
extent,
has
come
to
be
seen
as
the
only
reliable
performance
indicator
for
teams.
Courts
are
generally
uncritical
about
the
process.
The
refusal
rate
in
magistrates’
courts
is
negligible.
Furthermore,
the
prac-
tice
of
seeking
early
termination
has
specific
Home
Office
endorsement
in
National
Stan-
dards.
This
endorsement
is
difficult
to
understand
in
the
light
of
the
Criminal
Justice
Act’s
basic
principles.
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