The Search for a Primary Task
| Author | R.M. Braithwaite |
| Date | 01 June 1969 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455056901500205 |
| Published date | 01 June 1969 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
57
enquiry
reports
and
the
development
of
&dquo;intermediate
treatments&dquo;.
This
is
a
time
for
wide
vision
not
narrow
focussing
and
we
should
not
allow
ourselves
to
be
hastened
into
committing
ourselves
in
directions
we
may
later
regret.
Lord
Hamilton
went
on
to
say:
&dquo;We
should
be
given
the
chance
to
assimilate
one
change,
with
all
the
tensions
and
unexpectecl
side
eftects
which
may
result
from
it,
before
being
invited
to
take
on
the
next&dquo;.
REFERENCES
1
K.
C.
Parris.
"Casework
in
a
Prison
Setting".
Probation,
Vol.
14,
No. 2.
2
Robert
Foren
and
Royston
Bailey.
"Authority
in
Social
Casework".
Pergamon
Press.
3
Principal
Probation
Officers’
Conference,
April,
1968:
"The
Place
of
the
Probation
and
After-Care
Service
in
Judicial
Administration".
4
Report
of
the
Third
United
Nations
Congress
on
the
Prevention
of
Crime
and
the
Treatment
of
Offenders,
1967.
5
Paul
Halmos:
"The
Faith
of
the
Counsellors".
Constable.
6
M.
Murch:
"Seebohm :
A
Painful
Dilcmma
for
Probation".
Probation,
Vol.
15,
No. 1.
THE
SEARCH
FOR
A
PRIMARY
TASK
R.
M.
Braithwaite
Tutor
in
Applied
Social
Studies,
Bedford
College,
London
IN
THE
course
of
its
long
evolution
the
probation
and
after-care
service
has
become
a
multi-functional
organisation.
The
development
of
other
social
services
and
current
proposals
for
their
re-organisation
make
it
imperative
for
it
to
reconsider
its
role
and
to
decide
where
it
can
make
its
most
appropriate
contribution.
Until
its
proper
function
has
been
clarified,
discussion
about
its
final
form
of
organisation
is
of
secondary
importance,
though
the
two
issues
are
inextricably
linked.
What
then
should
be
the
primary
task
of
the
probation
and
after-care
service
in
the
future
and
how
should
it
be
organised
to
meet
this
task?
The
relationship
between
an
organisation
and
its
task
has
received
a
great
deal
of
attention
during
the
last
decade.
For
instance
in
Social
Policy
and
Administration1
Donnison
and
Chapman
write
&dquo;Neither
the
structure
of
an
organisation
nor
the
process
of
administration
can
be
identified
or
explained
until
this
task
has
been
specified&dquo;.
At
this
stage
in
the
history
of
the
probation
and
after-care
service,
therefore,
it
would
seem
important
to
concentrate
the
discussion
on
its
primary
task,
tempting
though
it
is
to
speculate
about
the
new
organisational
structures
which
may
become
possible
in
the
light
of
the
recent
report
of
bhe
Royal
Commission
on
Local
Government
(Maud),
the
report
of
the
Royal
Commission
on
Quarter
Sessions
and
Assize
(Beeching)
and,
possibly,
in
that
of
the
White
Paper
on
the
National
Health
Service
promised
for
the
autumn.
It
is
probably
wiser
to
await
the
publication
of
all
these
reports
than
to
go
on
debating
the
pros
and
cons
of
focal
or
central
government
administration
in
terms
of
the
present
known
structures.
The
immediate
job
is
to
look
dispassionately
at
the
service’s
functions,
to
decide
which
could
be
carried
out
as
well,
if
not
better,
by
some
other
service,
and
which
should
become
the
primary
task
of
the
future.
Since
the
past
illuminates
the
present,
it
is
perhaps
important
to
see
how
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