Reviews : Victims, Offenders and Alternative Sanctions JOE HUDSON AND BURT GALAWAY (EDS) Lexington Books, 1981; £12.50 hb; pp 205
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058102800415 |
| Date | 01 September 1981 |
| Published date | 01 September 1981 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
142
placement
supervisors-who
always
have
to
be
on
their
guard
against
their
excel-
lence
in
teaching
outdated
practice.
GORDON
READ
Probation
and
After
Care
in
Multi-
Racial
Society
COMPILED
BY
WENDY
TAYLOR
A
report
published
jointly
by
the
Com-
inission
for
Racial
Equality
and
The
West
Midlands
County
Probation
and
After
Care
Service
£2.00
pb;
pp
135.
I
suspect
that
most
probation
officers
genuinely
believe
that
they
do
not
dis-
criminate
in
their
work,
and
are
not
pre-
judiced.
I
also
suspect
that
most
proba-
tion
officers
feel
that
the
service
either
has
no
role
to
play
or
has
no
power
to
influence,
the
difficulties
which
black
people
may
experience
with
the
police,
with
employment,
or
with
housing.
How-
ever,
Wendy
Taylor,
who
was
appointed
ethnic
adviser
to
the
WMPACS,
reminds
us
that
we
must
constantly
take
into
account
not
only
prejudice
and
dis-
crimination
but
also
’attitudes
which
affect
the
provision
of
services
to
ethnic
minorities’.
This
report
sets
out
to
do
just
that,
and,
as
the
CPO
says
in
the
intro-
duction,
it
’identifies
real
concern
about
the
position
of
black
people
in
society,
focussing
particularly
upon
those
who
come
into
contact
with
the
Probation
Service’.
The
West
Midlands
is
the
first
area
publicly
to
examine
the
work
of
the
Pro-
bation
Service
in
this
context,
and
despite
the
potential
difficulties
and
controver-
sies,
can
leave
us
in
no
doubt
that
racial
understanding
is
not
simply
a
question
for
others.
The
report
presents
statistical
information
on
the
work
of
the
service,
and
while
acknowledging
reservations
about
interpreting
the
findings,
does
state
that
there
is
statistically
significant
under-representation
of
black
clients
on
probation,
and
over-representation
of
black
clients
on
licence.
When
this
is
combined
with
research
(by
Pat
White-
house
SPO)
which
shows
that
propor-
tionately
more
blacks
than
whites
are
arrested,
that
fewer
blacks
are
referred
for
SIR’s
and
that
blacks
are
more
likely
to
be
convicted
and
more
likely
to
receive
a
custodial
sentence,
then
there
is
a
basis
for
examining
the
relationship
of
blacks
to
the
criminal
justice
system,
and
the
position
of
probation
within
that
system.
This
report
is
an
essential
beginning
to
that
task.
PETER
SIRIPSON
DTC
Liverpool
Reports
for
the
Court:
guidance
for
independent
reporters
in
child
care
cases.
JO
TUNNARD
(ed)
Family
Rights
Group,
1981;
£2.00
pb;
pp
32.
Current
interest
in
the
alarmingly
high
number
of
children
in
care
makes
this
a
timely
publication
which
would
be
of
interest
to
a
much
wider
audience
than
intended.
Many
of the
issues
raised
are
relevant
to
all
kinds
of
reports
from
SIRs
to
research
reports,
and,
whilst
not
accepting
uncritically
many
of
the
asser-
tions
made,
I
found
the
pamphlet
stimu-
lating
and
informative-a
thought-pro-
voking
read.
JEAN
HINE
Research
Unit,
South
Yorkshire
Victims,
Offenders
and
Alternative
Sanctions
JOE
HUDSON
AND
BURT
GALAWAY
(EDS)
Lexington
Books,
1981;
£12.50
hb;
pp
205.
Sentencing
based
in
principle
on
resti-
tution
to
the
victim
or
the
community
has
expanded
quite
dramatically
in
the
USA
in
the
last
few
years,
largely
due
to
substantial
federal
funding
for
experi-
mental
projects.
This
collection
of
papers
from
the
third
annual
symposium
on
the
subject
offers
the
British
reader
a
good
understanding
of
the
range
of
issues
in-
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