Reviews : Problems of Long Term Imprisonment
| Date | 01 September 1988 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058803500306 |
| Published date | 01 September 1988 |
| Author | Ian White |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
REVIEWS
•
Contributions,
comments
and
suggestions
to
Liz
Bullingham,
Probation
Office,
Frost
House,
Woodhouse
Green,
Thurcroft,
Rotherham
S66
9AH,
Tel:
(0709)
546444
Nothing
Much
Happened:
Structured
Interviewing
With
Sex
Offenders
P.
GIBBS,
H.
ELDRIDGE,
J.
COWBURN.
Video,
Notts
Probation
Service,
1988,
32
mins,
£30
How
often
have
we
heard
that
working
with
sex
offenders
is
notoriously
difficult?
This
tape
will
more
than
enable
practitioners
to
engage
the
perpetrator
in
what
the
video
refers
to
as
structured
interviewing.
It
is
absorbing
and
instructive.
The
teaching
method
is
role
play
and
it
is
a
condensed
version
of
structured
interviews
with
a
child
sex
offender
although
this
approach
can
be
used
for
all
categories
of
sex
offenders.
The
Îi~~rview
concentrates
on
what
led
up
to
the
of-
fences,
the
specific
offending
behaviour,
and
_ its
consequences
not
only
for
the
offender
but
also
for
the
victim.
The
first
approach
is
to
enable
the
offender
to
examine
the
conse-
quences
for
himself
ie
prison,
loss
of
home
etc.
It
then
moves
on
to
help
the
offender
list
the
consequences
for
the
victim.
In
relation
to
the
offending
behaviour
the
of-
fender
is
helped
to
look
in
detail
at
the
events
leading
up
to
the
offence.
The
co-workers
do
not
attempt
to
question
why
the
client
commit-
ted
the
offences but
ask
questions
relating
to
when
the
offence
happened,
where
and
what
mood
the
offender
was
in.
This
process
of
eliciting
descriptive
information
enables
the
of-
fender
to
see
that
in
reality
he
had
choices
and
was
responsible
for
his
behaviour.
The
tape
then
continues
to
examine
general
and
specific
op-
tions
out
of
offending.
The
central
theme
of
this
tape
is
one
of
enabl-
ing
the
offender
to
take
on
responsibility
for
his
behaviour
and
not
continue
to
deny,
rationalise
or
minimize.
We
particularly
appreciated
that
very
little
jargon
was
used
and
we
found
it
easy
to
follow,
and
to
apply
when
working
with
child
sex
offenders.
G.A.
LOBBAN,
S.
HEALD,
S.
WALLACE
Probation
Officers,
Liverpool
Prison
Problems
of
Long
Term
Imprisonment
A.
BOTTOMS
AND
R.
LIGHT
(EDs)
Gower,
1987;
£25;
hb;
pp
336
.
This
volume
consists
of
a
number
of
presen-
tations
at
the
18th
Cropwood
Conference,
Cam-
bridge
in
March,
1986
prompted
by
the
report
of
the
Control
Review
Committee
in
1984.
Ever
since
the
Mountbatten
Report
of
1966,
the
physical
arrangements
for
long-term
prisoners
has
been
the
subject
of
much
debate
and,
to
some
extent,
has
reflected
the
struggle
to
differentiate
between
the
two
concepts
of
security
and
control
which
have
often
been
con-
fused
with
each
other
to
the
detriment
of
both.
The
book
provides
a
comprehensive
and
im-
pressive
review
of
the
current
issues
concern-
ing
those
responsible
for
the
management
of
the
long-term
prison
population,
which
has
grown
considerably
in
recent
years
with
the
abolition
100
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