Reviews : Police, Probation and Protecting the Public Mike Nash Blackstone Press Ltd., 1999; pp228; £16.95, pbk
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059904600316 |
| Published date | 01 September 1999 |
| Date | 01 September 1999 |
| Author | Ian Paylor |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
204
REVIEWS
Police,
Probation
and
Protecting
the
Public
Mike
Nash
Blackstone
Press
Ltd.,
1999;
pp228;
£16.95,
pbk
This
book
is
about
dangerousness
and
dangerous
offenders
and
the
problems
faced
by
police
and
probation
officers
when
asked
to
assess
the
risk
to
the
public
posed
by
such
people,
in
particular
the
danger
posed
by
sex
offenders.
Although
violent
and
serious
sexual
crime
makes
up
a
small
ptoportion
of
the
total
volume
of
recorded
crime,
it
understandably
creates
special
concern
and
fear
among
the
public.
Nash,
in
this
excellent
volume,
argues
that,
in
recent
years,
successive
governments
have
used
this
concern
to
drive
the
criminal
justice
agenda
m
an
increasingly
punitive
direction.
The
book
also
charts
how
this
has
impacted
on
the
working
practices
and
relationships
of
the
two
key
agencies
involved,
the
Police
and
Probation
Service.
The
book
is
divided
into
two
parts.
Part
one
charts
what
has
become
known
as
the
’dangerousness
debate’
and
focuses
on
the
way
politicians
have
influenced
the
public
protection
agenda,
how
legislation
has
been
framed
and
used,
and
what
this
has
meant
for
the
Police
and
Probation
Service.
Part
one
concludes
by
wondering
if
an
alternative
model
based
around
Braithwaite’s
work
on
re-integrative
shaming
might
be
worth
exploring.
Part
two
is
about
practical
issues
involving
work
with
such
offenders -
case
studies
and
illustrative
examples
are
provided.
I
found
this
a
thoroughly
engaging,
well
researched,
informative
text.
As
well
as
being
of
immediate
use
to
practitioners,
it
is
a
welcome
addition
to
the
continuing
debate
about
the
nature
of
the
Probation
Service.
Of
all
the
agencies
involved
in
the
Cnminal
Justice
System,
it
is
the
Probation
Service
which
in
recent
years
has
been
subjected
to
the
closest
government
scrutiny.
Profound
and
sometimes
disturbing
questions
have
been
asked
about
its
purpose,
its
efficiency,
its
organisation
and
the
training
of
its
officers.
Other
alhed
issues
continue
to
preoccupy
informed
commentators,
such
as
the
threat
to
probation
values
and
anxieties
about
the
ideology
of
managerialism.
Nash
draws
our
attention
to
the
inexorable
coming
together
of
police
and
probation
services
and
asks
the
reader
to
contemplate
the
birth
of
the
Orwellian
nightmare
that
is
’the
polibation
officer’.
In
recent
years
few
social
issues
have
attracted
as
much
attention
from
politicians,
the
media
and
the
public
as
dangerous
offenders
in
general
and
paedophiles
in
particular.
Nash
argues
that
preoccupation
with
the
protection
of
the
public
arises
out
of
a
political
context
rather
than
evidence
which
suggests
that
society
is
becoming
less
safe.
This
book
provides
an
up-to-date
critical
examination
of
contemporary
state
responses
to
dangerous
offenders,
combining
theoretical
conceptualisations,
policy
analyses
and
practice
developments.
Nash
provides
a
critique
of
a
system
which
is
increasingly
pre-occupied
with
public
protection
at
the
expense
of
a
well
thought
out
practice
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