probation forum
| Published date | 01 June 1966 |
| Author | P.J. Ely |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455056601200206 |
| Date | 01 June 1966 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
That made him reach for his forms all right. Sometimes I would get more
than 100 a week by telling him they had been lost or stolen. He referred
me to a psychiatrist but told me it was for speech therapy so I didn’t go.
One day a locum came, a right shrewd fellow he was. He wouldn’t give me
more than five a day, so I started to get 50 a week from another doctor under
a different name. I used to take a block [50] all at once and give the rest
to my mates. I never sold them. If I had I would have had money and
should never have got into trouble with the law.&dquo;
We find it difficult to believe, however, that these drugs are mostly obtained
from prescriptions or petty thefts from factories by employees, even though the
scale of such thefts can be considerable. Distribution is already &dquo;big deal&dquo; in
parts of London and we have recently heard of violent struggles between distri-
buting organisations, with the result, that. though small operators may pull out,
criminal networks may become more strongly organised. One immediate step
that could be taken would be to establish the kind of licensing and inspection in
drug factories that is imposed on liquor distillers, with checks on input, output
and delivery to destination. Such measures would pay dividends in the reduction
of both crime and addiction.
Meanwhile, in any even, more court reports on all types of drug cases are
being and will be requested. We in the probation service need to go on from
here to consider more carefully (a) what degree of emphasis to put on various
manifestations of the habit when preparing recommendations (i.e. the bearing it
has on the subject’s anti-social behaviour in general), and (b) how far either the
addict or the occasional taker can be helped by probation with or without a
condition of treatment.
P.E., E. C. M.
Notes:
z
(1) We should like to thank all those who have helped us in collecting this material.
(2) All names and identifying details of cases have been changed.
probation forum
THE MISUSE OF PROBATION
Dr. Nigel Walker (see page 12 aiite) demands a positive reason for the use of
probation. The law postulates a finding of expediency, having regard to the
circumstances. An order of conditional discharge is not to be made unless a
probation order is considered inappropriate. A court’s reason for making
a probation order is very commonly found in the fact that there is in the
offender’s background an apparent state of affairs which suggests that the assis-
tance of a trained social worker might bring (or speed) the solution of a prob-
lem, and so avoid future delinquency. Is this not a positive reason, more cogent
(with respect) than an argument based upon statistics, which surely proves
nothing but the obvious, i.e. that (as one would expect) those cases in which the
circumstances are considered serious enough for a probation order to be made
result in a comparatively higher proportion of second offenders?
Commonly today a court has sufficient information to form a reasonable
assessment as to whether there is or is not a satisfactory (home) background.
If there is not, why should a probation order be exceptional? Potentially (in
such a case) it should be more worth trying than a fine. And who is to say a
probation order is not appropriate? It must be remembered that, as the law
54
stands at present, a court’s discretion is not (as Dr. Walker seems to suggest)
completely unfettered.
Whilst reserving one’s own opinions, one might not feel inclined to argue over
much with Dr. Walker if he...
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