Public Protection? The Implications of Grayling's ?Transforming Rehabilitation' Agenda on the Safety of Women and Children
| Author | Beverley Gilbert |
| Pages | 123-134 |
123
PUBLIC PROTECTION? THE IMPLICATIONS OF
GRAYLING'S 'TRANSFORMING REHABILITATION'
AGENDA ON THE SAFETY OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN
Beverley Gilbert, University of Worcester
Abstract
The Coalition Government's new Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) agenda jeopardises the
work undertaken with perpetrators of domestic abuse by highly skilled, qualified
probation staff. Under new changes outlined by Grayling, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of
State for Justice, probation clients who are assessed as posing a medium/low risk of
causing harm will be assigned to private sector/voluntary organisations rat her than come
under the remit of the National Probation Service. This article argues that victims of
domestic abuse, primarily women and children, will be placed at an increased risk of harm
given this latest TR strategy. The majo rity of domestic a buse cases will be a ssessed as
posing a medium risk of causing harm and will receiv e lower levels of interv ention by a
variety of disparate agencies and organisations. The Ministry of Justice states that the
National Probation Service will directly manage offenders who pose a high risk of serious
harm to the public, this article will argue that all perpetrators of d omestic abuse should be
considered as an important exception to this stance, and should remain under the
auspices of Probatio n supervision, irr espective of stati stical risk assessm ent, as has sex
offender case management an d sex offender treatment programme delivery.
Keywords
Domestic abuse, Transforming Rehabilitation, r isk, perpetrator inter ventions, probation,
protection, women and children
British Journal of Community Justice
©2013 Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield
ISSN 1475-0279
Vol. 11(2-3): 123-134
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