Probation officers working with women offenders in the community: Evidence from Catalonia
| Published date | 01 March 2022 |
| Author | Cristina Vasilescu |
| Date | 01 March 2022 |
| DOI | 10.1177/02645505211070087 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Probation officers
working with women
offenders in the
community: Evidence
from Catalonia
Cristina Vasilescu
University of Girona, Spain
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to analyse the experiences of probation officers who
supervise women in the community in Catalonia. To this end, qualitative research
involving 15 semi-structured interviews with probation officers in Barcelona and
Girona was carried out. The results show that professionals agree that there are
important gender differences in relation to: (a) personal and penal characteristics
and (b) supervision style. The perceptions of practitioners and existing empirical
data are broadly consistent. Women who serve community sentences have a wide
range of problems, needs and responsibilities compared to men, which is often
reflected in the fact that women’s attendance is much more irregular, an issue that
presents multiple challenges for practitioners. Probation officers already carry out
different gender-responsive practises, however, they face different challenges in a
gender-insensitive probation system. Furthermore, given the great heterogeneity of
the female service users compared to the men, service provision for women in the
community also needs to be intersectionally-responsive. Based on these disparities,
the elements of probation that the professionals believe work better with women
and those that could be improved are discussed.
Keywords
probation officers, community sentences, women offenders, probation,
gender-responsive approach
Corresponding Author:
Cristina Vasilescu, University of Girona, Faculty of Law, Calle de la Universitat de Girona, Nr. 12, Campus
Montilivi, Girona 17071, Spain.
Email: cristina.vasilescu@udg.edu
Article The Journal of Communit
y
and Criminal Justice
Probation Journal
2022, Vol. 69(1) 24–44
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/02645505211070087
journals.sagepub.com/home/prb
Introduction
This article explores the extent to which Catalan probation officers adopt a gender
responsive approach when working with women who offend. It argues that proba-
tion officers are aware that there are important gender differences with regard to
personal and penal characteristics and supervision styles. Furthermore, it is high-
lighted that there are specific practises that work with female offenders and profes-
sionals perform some of these. In Spain, there is a lack of research about the
experiences of probation officers working with women in the community. As in
other jurisdictions, the few studies on the experiences of women serving sentences
in the community conclude that women have specific needs, characteristics and pro-
blems that should be taken into account during the implementation of community sen-
tences (Vasilescu, 2020). This study analyses whether professionals working with
the community-based population are also aware of these factors and the implica-
tions they have on the implementation of community measures.
Internationally, there are numerous studies on women serving community sen-
tences that examine both the experiences of the women themselves and the experi-
ences of the professionals who supervise them (Gelsthorpe et al., 2007; Sheehan
et al., 2007, 2011; Worrall and Gelsthorpe, 2009). This research has pointed out
that interventions and practises that simply ‘add and stir’do not work for female
offenders (Annison et al., 2018; Barry and McIvor, 2010; Gelsthorpe and
Hedderman, 2012) because generally, community sentences, like prison sen-
tences, have historically been designed with men in mind (Gelsthorpe et al.,
2007: 7).
In fact, in jurisdictions like Kenya, but especially in the Anglosphere (United
Kingdom, Canada, United States and Australia), there has long been talk of intro-
ducing a ‘gender-responsive approach’into the criminal justice system (Fulham,
2019; Phoenix Khan, 2017, 2018) based on the need to recognise the differences
betweenwomenandmen(CovingtonandBloom,2006)inordertoprovidea
more equitable response to all users (Wright and Kemshall, 1994). The UN
Bangkok Rules (2011, Article 57) were also key in pointing out that community
sentences should be adapted to women’s needs. In fact, the development of
these rules was so significant that, as a result, various alternatives to prison
designed on the basis of female users have been implemented around the world
(Fulham, 2019).
In Spain, there is a need for research that focuses on analysing whether, from the
perspective of probation officers, there are also significant gender differences in the
characteristics of the user population and in the implementation of community sen-
tences. These professionals have the important task of supervising and intervening
with women service users and their experiences will allow us to know which elements
work and which could be improved to achieve a gender-responsive probation
service. To analyse the experiences of probation officers, 15 semi-structured inter-
views were carried out in Barcelona and Girona. Those factors that professionals
identify as specifically positive for women users coincide to a large extent with
those that women themselves identify as good practises (Vasilescu, 2020).
Vasilescu 25
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