Reviews : Theories of Practice in Social Work PAULINE HARDIKER AND MARY BARKER Academic Press, 1981
| Published date | 01 September 1982 |
| Date | 01 September 1982 |
| Author | Derrick Anderson |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058202900311 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
111
specified,
and
my
worry
is
that
these
rather
broad
phrases
could
encapsulate
too
much.
Second,
although
the
authors
acknow-
ledge
that
any
protective
sentencing
serategy
necessitates
accurate
prediction,
they
also
concede
that
this
is,
at
best,
a
hazardous
and
often
unreliable
exercise.
Simply
put,
predictive
restraint
neces-
sarily
involves
locking
up
some
non-
dangerous
offenders.
But,
such
arithmetic
is
no
more
than
a
trifling
inconvenience
for the
authors:
if
the
greater
public
good
is
served
by
mistakenly
detaining
non-dangerous
offenders,
then
so
be
it.
Considerations
of
utility
seem
more
important
than
morality.
Third,
the
legitimacy
of
taking
dan-
gerous
offenders
out
of
circulation
is
a
product
of
their
belief
that
it
is
proper
and
desirable
to
engage
in
some
form
of
penal
pre-emptive
strike
against
future
criminal
misconduct.
But,
is
it
not
one
of
the
hallmarks
of
criminal
justice
that
we
should
be
punished
only
for
what
we
have
done,
and
not
for
what
we
might
do?
For
my
part,
I
cannot
believe
that
in
order
to
protect
society
somewhat
from
a
few
dangerous
offenders,
we
should
present
the
State
with
this
unparalleled
opportunity
to
start
locking
up
those
it
merely
supposes
may
threaten
it
with
some
future
unspecified
harm.
Such
pro-
posals
are
the
stuff
of
tyranny
and
I
want
no
part
of
them.
For
these
reasons
I
have
the
feeling
that
the
book
may
have
been
more
appropriately
called
’Dangerousness
in
Criminal
Justice’
not
’Dangerousness
~nrl
r’rirni....&dquo;, 1 Tn &dquo;t,,,,,,’
ANDREW
WILLIS
Lecturer
in
Criminology,
University
College,
Cardiff
Theories
of
Practice
in
Social
Work
PAULINE
HARDIKER
AND
MARY
BARKER
Academic
Press,
1981
’Theories
of
practice’
refer
to
some
of
the
ways
in
which
social
workers
use
knowledge
in
a
relatively
explicit
way
in
beliefs
of
social
workers
often
have
con-
their
day
to
day
work.
The
ideas
and
sequences
for
their
actions.
One
of
the
aims
of
the
book
is
to
identify
both
the
dynamics
and
the
parameters
of
selective
assessments
carried
out
by
social
workers
in their
interventions.
The
authors
realise,
quite
rightly,
that
it
is
almost
impossible
to
achieve
an
integrated
theory
of
man
in
society.
Indeed,
throughout
the
book
we
are
constantly
reminded
that
it
in
no
way
represents
an
’all-inclusive’
recipe
book
of
social
work
theory.
It
merely
sketches
a
framework
for
making
explicit
the
psycho-social
dimensions
of
the
inter-
action
in
a
way
which
provides
as
’fully
human
a
picture
as
possible’.
The
authors
go
on
to
highlight
the
inherent
contradictions
and
difficulties
of
produc-
ing
a
synthesis
of
a
number
of
sometimes
conflicting
disciplines
in
relation
to
a
particular
piece
of
social
work
interven-
tion.
However,
the
book
is
most
definitely
a
positive
step
in
the
development
of
a
useful
work
’tool’.
Only
one
gripe
about
the
book.
The
authors
claim
of
accessibility
even
to
those
who
have
no
prior
knowledge
of
the
subject
seems
a
little
unbelievable.
In
reviewing
this
book
I
certainly
found
it
required
a
great
degree
of
experiential
expertise
in
order
to
make
some
of
the
practice
connections.
That
aside
Theories
of
Practice
in
Social
Work
must
be
one
of
the
most
significant
developments
in
the
theoretical
analysis
of
social
work
practice
to
date.
A
book
well
worth
reading
for
those
interested
in
making
their
practice
more
theoretical
in
an
explicit
manner.
DERRICK
ANDERSON
Community
Worker,
Birmingham
A
Study
of
Violence
in
Probation
Hostels
BRUCE,
COWAN,
WHYMS
South
Yorkshire
PACS,
April
1982;pp
12
micro
The
results
of
a
survey
of
wardens.
Violence,
it
seems,
is
increasing,
partly
due
to
the
commitment
to
’heavy-end’
offenders;
should
hostels
concentrate
on
’prevention
as
a
priority
rather
than
con-
tainment
as
a
policy’?
What
can
staff
do
to
keep
tension
down?
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