What do recovery and desistance have in common?
Understanding the whole person The Revolving Doors Agency has just (26 November 2015) published the first in a series of literature reviews on severe and multiple
7th December 2015
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Understanding the whole person The Revolving Doors Agency has just (26 November 2015) published the first in a series of literature reviews on severe and multiple
While there are clear advantages to inspectors having an outsider’s view and a fresh perspective on the service they are responsible for, they are also vulnerable to accusations of not understanding the context in which they are working.
The Inspectorate’s overall conclusion reflects their continuing concerns about the new system; particularly around risk, and, most seriously, around risk to children:
This consistent upward (with the exception of juveniles released from custody) trend is worrying and many commentators will feel it reflects the substantial cuts in probation resources over recently years. Paradoxically, new private probation providers may be pleased to see the rates rise as these are likely to form the baseline for their payment by results targets.
However, it may be that many of these voluntary sector providers would have been neither able nor willing to deliver probation services at the prices eventually set by the MoJ. Indeed, some of the successful private firms may already ruing their good fortune as they wrestle with the “winner’s curse”.
The new Justice Secretary Michael Gove has made much of the need to have an ethical criminal justice system. One step hemight take would be to make the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman’s recommendations legally enforceable.
Advocates of tagging typically advanced the cost effectiveness argument where they compare the cost of tagging – according to the Reform report somewhere between £8 to £16 per day for the new GPS tags – with the average cost of the prison place of approximately £73.
Perhaps the main challenge for probation staff working with young adult offenders in the new CRCs will be to have sufficient time to develop a trusting relationship which underpins the best probation practice.
It is surprising that in 2015, there is almost no British research of sufficient high quality to inform best practice in reducing women’s offending. There is a particular need to develop an effective evidence base around what works in helping women to desist from violent crime.
It will be interesting to see whether the picture of reducing reoffending services looks any different by the time of the next report. At the moment, the voluntary sector which works with offenders and their families are stuck in the same position as Dante’s virtuous pagans, not sure if the future will be heaven or hell.
Annual Probation Inspectorate report The recent (11 August 2015) annual report from the Probation Inspectorate did not generate the same level of media attention as
National Offender Management Service has published its annual report and accounts for 2014/15. What does it tell us?
