The County Court— a Role for Social Workers?
| Date | 01 June 1971 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455057101700204 |
| Author | Alfred Watson |
| Published date | 01 June 1971 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
44
THE
COUNTY
COURT—
A
ROLE
FOR
SOCIAL
WORKERS?
Alfred
Watson
Leicester
City
ONE
has
only
to
begin
to
explore
the
problems,
the
social
resources
and
personality
of
men
committed
to
prison
in
default
of
County
Court
Commitment
Orders,
to
appreciate
that
imprisonment,
though
it
may
achieve
payment
of
debt
in
many
cases,
worsens
the
plight
of
the
debtor
often
leaving
him
a
bigger
liability
on
society
than
might
be
otherwise.
Last
year
in
the
prison
in
which
the
writer
functions
1 19
out
of
2,163
receptions
were
from
County
Courts,
and
on
each
of
them
a
fairly
vigorous
task
was
undertaken
to
obtain
speedy
return
to
the
community
and
to
try
to
retain
and
improve
social
resources
and
social
functioning.
In
all
67
were
released
consequent
upon
payment
of
the
debt.
The
social
worker’s
role
was
that
of
mediator
between
relatives,
friends,
employers,
tax
ofticials
where
tax
rebate
might
be
due,
and
charities
in
a
limited
number
of
hopelessly
distressed
cases.
In
the
course
of
such
work
what
becomes
evident
in
nearly
all
cases
is
that
the
traumatic
impact
of
imprisonment
on
both
inmate
and
ultimate
fund-supplying
agent
was
an
essential
prerequisite
for
determining
both
desire
and
necessity
for
help.
For
most,
payment
of
the
debt
is
achieved
at
best
through
transference
of
the
debt
to
another
source
by
loan
or
advance
of
wages,
or
by
utilising
all
available
capital,
for
example
in
wages
due.
This
means
that
more
often
than
not
they
return
to
the
community
destitute
and
then
must
resort
to
public
funds.
In
all
cases
such
advice
as
was
possible
was
given
on
how
they
might
best
begin
to
resolve
their
problems
more
permanently.
In
a
limited
number
of
cases
there
was
direct
referral
to
a
specific
social
agency
which
was
already
working
with
the
family.
Only
in
a
very
few
cases
of
glaring
need
was
it
possible
to
achieve
referral
as
new
cases
and
this
mostly
when
possible
mental
illness
was
observed.
Work
at
depth
is
impossible
for
several
reasons.
The
fact
that
prison
stay
can
vary
from
a
minimum
of
hours
to
a
maximum
of
42
days
only
(in
effect
14
days
is
the
average
and
but
rarely
exceeds
28
days),
restricts
work
to
what
is
urgent
and
essential.
Though
the
need
for
ongoing
help
is
more
often
than
not
indicated,
community
resources,
their
availability
and
the
time
often
necessary
to
bring
them
into
action
are
further
impediments.
It
might
here
be
worth
looking
at
the
type
of
person
who
enters
prison
under
such
circumstances.
A
very
limited
number
do
so
because
of
deliberate
non-
acceptance
of
compulsion
to
meet
their
responsibility.
They
are
over-confident
that
the
committal
will
never
be
enforced
against
them,
and
although
they
have
ready
financial
resources,
entry
into
prison
is
the
only
factor
that
causes
them
to
draw
on
these
to
effect
release,
often
within
hours.
The
majority,
however,
come
in
for
fairly
small debts
which
alone,
they
are
totally
incapable
of
meeting.
For
them
entry
into
prison
is
not
the
result
of
temporary
difficulty
or
lapse,
but
rather
the
culminating
symptom
of
long-term
problems
which
they
themselves
have
been
unable
or
unwilling
to
resolve.
Begin
to
explore
their
circumstances
and
you
find
that
there
are
quite
serious
social,
and
often
crippling
personality
problems-incapacity
for
work,
alcoholism,
senile
dementia,
and
persecutional
delusions,
to
mention
a
few.
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