Reintegration—a New Role for the Probation Service?
| Author | Martin Seddon |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455057502200104 |
| Date | 01 March 1975 |
| Published date | 01 March 1975 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
9
Reintegration—a
New
Role
for
the
Probation
Service?
MARTIN
SEDDON
NACRO,
formerly
Bristol
DESPITE
SOME
interesting
new
projects
being
undertaken
by
the
Home
.
Office
Probation
Department
and
local
probation
committees,
the
great
/
majority
of
probation
officers
in
this
country
are
involved
in
the
tradi-
,
tional
role
of
providing
social
casework
services
to
selected
offenders.
For
a
number
of
reasons
this
situation
bears
critical
examination,
particularly
in
the
light
of
current
social
and
economic
conditions,
and
this
article
attempts
to
draw
together
some
ideas
the
writer
came
across
during
a
recent
trip
to
Massachusetts.
Theoretical
criticisms
of
social
casework
agencies
are
well
known.
A
functional
analysis
points
out
the
questionable
wisdom
of
a
state
employ-
ing
special
people
to
deal
with
a
problem
whilst
the
rest
of
the
popula-
tion
are
allowed
to
ignore
it.
The
man-in-the-street
becomes
alienated
from
the
&dquo;problem&dquo;
and
tends
to
mistrust
the
&dquo;professionals&dquo;,
whose
work
is
often
described
to
him
in
inaccessible
jargon.
Caseworkers
tend
to
over-estimate
their
own
influence
on
clients
and
under-estimate
that
of
other
people
with
whom
they
come
in
contact.
There
is
a
tendency
for
the
casework
approach
to.actually
increase
the
isolation
and
stigma
of
the
&dquo;deviant&dquo;
individual.
Bureaucratisation
of
their
management
structures tends
to
make
field-workers
&dquo;inward
looking&dquo;.
From
the
offenders’
point
of
view
there
is
little
opportunity
to
become
actively
involved
in
the
rehabilitation
process
and
they
are
usually
stuck
in
the
role
of
an
object
to
be
treated.
From
the
practical
perspective
there
are
some
topical
considerations.
Although
social
casework
is
cheaper
to
provide
than
custodial
treat-
ment,
probation
committees
are
finding
it
increasingly
difficult
to
obtain
funds
for
their
present
commitments.
Rising
crime
rates
are
placing
greater
stresses
on
all
agencies
that
service
the
courts
and
prison
administrators
are
seeking
methods
that
will
provide
for
the
early
release
of
more
offenders
into
the
care
of
the
Probation
Service.
American
theoreticians,
faced
with
similar
problems,
have
been
developing
the
concept
of
a
reintegration
strategy
as
a
possible
alterna-
tive
to
casework
rehabilitation.
In
simple
terms
rehabilitation
means
that
a
specialist
works
with
an
offender
until
he
can
manage
the
problems
of
social
living.
On
the
other
hand,
reintegration
emphasises
the
repairing
of
the
relationship
between
the
offender
and
the
rest
of
the
community.
The
process
would
concentrate
on
organising
and
develop-
ing
existing
rehabilitative
skills
in
neighbourhoods,
tackling
factors
that
promote
juvenile
crime
and
adult
recidivism,
educating
the
public
to
the
predicament
of
discharged
prisoners
and
encouraging
a
community
to
feel
responsibility
for
its
offenders.
A
crucial
factor
is
that
it
is
a
process
in
which
the
offender
can
become
actively
involved
as
an
agent.
,
It
does
not
say
that
people
who
get
into
trouble
do
not
need
help,
but
rather
it
raises
questions
about
who
ought
really
to
be
providing
the
help.
If
it
is
accepted
that
non-professional
members
of
the
community
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