The Future of the Probation Service
| Published date | 01 September 1996 |
| Date | 01 September 1996 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059604300301 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
118
The
Future
of
the
Probation
Service:
The
Case
for
the
Compulsive
Understander
Invited
by
Probation
Journal
to
identify
the
Probation
Service’s
prospects
for
survival,
influence,
identify
and
transformation,
Cedric
Fullwood,
Chief
Probation
Officer
for
Greater
Manchester,
offers
a
wide-ranging
perspective
on
Probation’s
future
as
a
collaborative
’community’
service
rather
than
a
’correctional’
agency,
in
the
context
of
law
and
order
politics,
the
changing
criminal
justice
system
and
international
trends.
ne
way
of
answering
the
question
‘What
is
the
future
for
the
Probation
Service’
is
to
look
25
years
ahead
and
use
a
model
known
in
the
United
States
as
alternative
futures.
This
is
part
extrapolation
from
present
trends,
and
part
radical
thoughts,
lateral
thinking,
thinking
the
unthinkable.
Such
a
challenge
was
presented
to
me
in
1988
when
a
group
of
senior
civil
servants
and
academics
asked
me
to
lead
a
private
seminar
on
the
subject
’If
the
Probation
Service
did
not
exist,
would
we
invent
it’?
In
that
contribution
I
took
as
my
starting
point
five
years
working
in
Scotland
where
there
is
no
formal
Probation
Service.
Interestingly,
developments
over
the
past
10-1 ~
years
have,
for
all
intents
and
purposes,
created
a
system
of
services
to
offenders
within
the
criminal
justice
system
in
Scotland
which
equates
more
to
the
Probation
Service
in
England
and
Wales
than
the
original
concepts
behind
the
Kilbrandon
report.
I
leave
a
no
holds
barred
alternative
futures
to
theAdam
Smith
Institute
and
similar
policy
think
tanks.
My
concern
about
such
wild
dreaming
is
that,
given
sufficient
authority
and
credence,
even
the
wildest
policies
can
emerge
in
some
politicians’
manifesto!
My
starting
point,
on
the
other
hand,
is
to
take four
relatively
contemporary
contributions
on
the
subject
and
see
what
similar
strands
lie
within
them.
Recent Groundwork
Firstly,
and
demonstrating
a
total
lack
of
humility,
I
would
like
to
refer
to
some
thoughts
of
my
own.
In
talking
to
the
National
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