Probation in the News: Transforming Rehabilitation
| Author | Jake Phillips |
| Pages | 27-48 |
27
PROBATION IN THE NEWS: TRANSFORMING
REHABILITATION
Jake Phillips, Lecturer in Criminology, Sheffield Hallam University
Abstract
This article presents an analysis of the main themes from the media debates around the
Government's plans to privatise 70% of Probation Trusts' work. The themes which were
identified revolved around the effectiveness, aims and rationale of the reforms. The arti cle
argues that opponents to the reforms have played a defensive game presenting a picture
of probation which simply mirrors the last ten years of the new Labour era in which
managerialism and micro-management characterised the service and have neglected to
put forward a more positive argument in terms of what a public probation service can
achieve. On the o ther hand, supporters of the reforms appear to have made con siderable
use of the tendency of the media to simplify complex issues and appear to have taken
heed of the research into the public's attitudes towards rehabilitation in order to garner
support for the reforms. The article concludes by considering some alternative strategies
and arguments that might h ave been put forward by opponents in order to mount a more
successful case against the reforms.
Keywords
transforming rehabilitation; probation; media
British Journal of Community Justice
©2014 Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield
ISSN 1475-0279
Vol. 12(1): 27-48
Phillips
28
Introduction
This article analyses the media debat e around the Coalition Government's response to the
Transforming Rehabilitatio n consultation in which plan s to outsource work with low and
medium risk offenders were outlined (Ministry of Justice, 2013). The reforms, which will
only apply to England and Wales, will al low for private and voluntary organisations to
deliver supervision, offender management an d specific interventions to offenders, work
that is currently the primary responsibility of publicly funded Probation Trusts. Around
70% of Probat ion Trusts' work will be outsourced. The new system will use a payment by
results syste m by which contract holders will receive payment if they can show to have
reduced reoffending amongst their client group.
These reforms have, perhaps unsurprisingly, been received with considerable anger and
challenge by interested parties with a media ca mpaign being created by the National
Association of Probation Officers (Napo) and probation staff speaking out on social media
such as Twitter (although they have since b een barred from expressing their dismay
(Travis, 2013d). In ad dition to this, representatives of Prob ation Trusts have outlined their
concerns about the reforms in local newspapers, Police and Crime Commissioners have
spoken out about the reforms and the Hou se of Lords voted in favour of an amendment
requiring the Offender Rehabilitation Bill to be passed by t he House of Commons before
being enacted. In response, the Government has been active in putting forward its
arguments in favour of the reforms with Chris Grayling, the Minister for Justice, appearing
on news programmes, answering questions to parliament, app earing in front of the Justice
Committee and writing in newspapers. All of this means that probation has had a greater
media presence than in recent years, where it has primarily been the subject of attention
in the context of well pub licised failures (Maru na, 2007). Importantly, both 'sides'1 have
explicitly engaged with the media with Napo's aforementioned media campaign leading
the media engagement for oppo nents to the reforms, and evidence from a leaked 'risk
register' sug gesting that the Government ha s tried to mitigat e the likelihood o f a
successful oppo sition campaign by 'media messaging to keep elements of reform at the
top of the agenda' (Travis, 2013c).
This article presents an anal ysis of the ways in which opponents and supporters of the
reforms have constructed their cases, arguing that the Government has made appeals to
the 'emotive' (Maruna & King, 2004) element of probation whilst oppo nents have played a
defensive game which risks failing to garner sufficient public support for the continuing
existence of a public probation service. The arguments for and against the reforms h ave
centred upon three main points: the potential effectiveness of the reforms, their aims,
and the underlying rationale. With regards to the first point we see the Government's
complex system of payment by results being simplified by the media to the extent that it
becomes hard to argue against the headline message that th e reforms are all about
1 I acknowledge that there are more than two positions in this debate and, as has been
acknowledged elsewhere (Dominey & Phillips, 2012), many observers take a pragmatic approach by
accepting the reforms will happen and concentrating on how best to work with them. This article
focuses primarily on those who explicitly take a 'for' or 'against' stance. It is also worth noting that it
is these two camps which are most represented in the media.
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