Reviews : Jarvis Probation Officers' Manual (5th Edition
| Date | 01 March 1994 |
| Published date | 01 March 1994 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059404100119 |
| Author | Nigel Stone |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
46
Jarvis
Probation
Officers’
Manual
(5th
Edition)
Alan
Saunders
and
Paul
Senior
(eds)
ACOP/PAVIC
Publications.
1993:
£33.50
Working
for
a
Probation
Area
which
distnbuted
a
copy
to
every
officer,
I
assumed
that
this
was
a
nationwide
gesture
of
solidarity
withm
ACOP
and
that
the
text
would
thus
be
so
widely
available
as
to
make
the
reviewer
redundant.
On
the
contrary,
I’m
reliably
informed
that
Norfolk
is
one
of
a
tiny
minority
of
generously
subscribing
Services.
One
wonders
what
system
of
access
is
adopted
elsewhere -
on
application
to
your
Assistant
Chief?
’reference
only’
at
your
HQ
library?
At
this
price,
£38
if
you
include
the
postage,
the
product
has
to
be
geared
to
the
institutional
market.
So
it
may
be
you
haven’t
yet
seen
the
new
transformed
Jams.
Gone
is
the
odd-smelling
little
red
Butterworths
book.
Welcome
three
volumes
of
A4
ring
binder
which
make
Stones
seem
positively
compact.
I
have
to
declare
an
interest.
I
put
in
an
unsuccessful
bid
for
the
editorship
and,
sour
grapes
as
it
may
sound,
I
have
real
misgivings
about
the
new
version.
I
can
see
the
logic
of
the
ring
binder.
Gone
are
the
more
tranquil
days
when
a
revision
every
five
years
or
so
would
suffice
to
take
account
of
developments.
So
the
fifth
edition
is
presumably
the
last,
to
be
constantly
refined
and
topped
up
by
subscription updates,
not
forgetting
space
for
clipping
in
your
local
Area
inserts.
My
own
preference
was
for
an
annual
volume
of
the
size
and
price
of
Owen
Wells’
Probation
Directory,
avoiding
all
that
cumbersome
bulk
and
fiddly
amending,
certainly
more
accessible
to
students
and
also
a
shade
handier
for
the
mobile
court
duty
officer.
In
a
small
piece
of
consumer
research,
your
reviewer
asked
twelve
colleagues
(who
had
all
had
the
benefit
from
a
personal
copy
for
some
four
months)
for
their
opinion.
Ten
confessed
that
they
hadn’t
opened
it.
The
bulk
had
been
stowed
away
in
the
bookcase.
Two
had
combined
to
look
up
a
tricky
point,
one
saying
it
had
been
helpful
and
the
other
the
opposite.
This
must
be
seriously
disappointing
to
Paul
and
Alan
who
have
laboured
hard
to
breathe
new
life,
breadth
and
clarity
into
the
eponymous
Fred’s
creature.
Even
with
the
help
of
a
posse
of
guest
contributors
(though
we
aren’t
told
who
actually
did
what)
they
were
clearly
up
agamst
the
clock
(and
ACOP
certainly
drove
a
hard
bargain
on
the
deal).
I
must
own
up
that
I
have
not
read
every
word
but
my
sampling
m
general
and
my
road-
testing
in
the
particular
leaves
a
distinct
impression
of
a
certain
over-
ambitiousness
(is
this
really
the
place
to
give
a
quick
round
up
of
criminological
knowledge
of
car
crime?);
over-simplicity
(eg
’Community
Service
Practice’)
and
carelessness,
in
addressing
the
core
legal
stuff
which
has
always
been
Jar-vis’s
strength.
It
is
commonly
observed
how
lawyer
like
probation
officers’
thinking
has
become
and
this
is
likely
to
be
the
practitioner’s
prime
legal
sourcebook.
It
is
therefore
regrettable
that
it
isn’t
more
accurate
and
authoritative.
One
of
the
weaknesses
of
the
old
edition
was
that
you
were
never
sure
whether
you
were
accessing
the
original
source
wording
or
the
editor’s
extrapolations.
Weaving
the
quotes
into
the
text
in
italics
with
margin
referencing,
as
the
new
presentation
does,
is
ingenious
and
helpful,
provided
that
it
doesn’t
provide
a
false
sense
of
security
that
you
have
the
whole
picture.
Admittedly
the
provisions
of,
say,
Schedule
Two
of
the
1991
Act
are
unnecessairly
obscure
in
many
respects
but
Jarvis
could
do
better
in
identifying
the
ambiguities
and
subtleties.
On
balance,
I
still
feel
that
you
are
better
served
by
seeing
the
original
for
yourself
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