Editorial
| DOI | 10.1177/206622031300500101 |
| Published date | 01 March 2013 |
| Date | 01 March 2013 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
1
European Journal of Probation
University of Bucharest
www.ejprob.ro
Vol. 5, No.1, 2013, pp 1 – 2
ISSN: 2006 – 2203
Editorial
Welcome to the first issue of the European Journal of Probation of 2013. This issue is an open
one publishing papers from European countries and Australia. The subjects approached in these
papers are also diverse.
The first two papers - “They might as well be walking around the inside of a biscuit tin”:
Barriers to Employment and Reintegration for ‘Politically Motivated’ Former Prisoners in
Northern Ireland and The National Police Certificate is a significant barrier to
employment for ex-offenders – look from two different perspectives at how employment
legislation and recruitment practices could hinder the prospectives for reintegration of ex-
prisoners. In this respect it is useful for the reader to consider these two papers together with the
articles published in the special issue of the European Journal of Probation (2011(3). Some of the
issues covered in the current papers relate strongly to and echo the ones touched on in previous
papers but the perspectives are definitely fresh and inspiring. For instance, the paper published
by Antoinette M Saliba on the National Police Certificate draws the reader’s attention to the
dangers of a governmentality based on risk management and risk avoidance.
The paper Change and the Probation Service in England and Wales: A Gendered Lens
looks at a constantly changing organization from the gender perspective emphasizing an apparent
paradox: at the same time that the Probation Service has been required to become more punitive,
women have made up an increasing proportion of the workforce. Interesting implications of this
shift are discussed and challenged.
The paper Do intervention plans meet criteria for effective practice to reduce recidivism?
How probation officers forget about social capital and basic needs demonstrates the limited
transfer of the RNR paradigm into practice. As noted in other studies, it seems that probation
officers tend to overlook the risk and the need principle in their current practice. The authors also
put forward some ideas regarding how this reality might be changed.
Returning to the theme of desistance, Dr. Nigel Elliott reviews a stimulating new book on that
subject (Healy, Deirdre (2012) The Dynamics of Desistance: Charting Pathways through
Change, Abingdon: Routledge.) Liz Dixon, a practitioner with the London Probation Trust,
picks up the theme of restorative justice in her review of Joanna Shapland, Gwen Robinson and
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