Desisting in France: What Probation Officers Know and Do. A First Approach

Abstract

French probation services operate without much knowledge of criminological literature. Thus they have never heard of desistance. This research aimed at verifying whether they nonetheless had an overall idea of what it takes to desist and whether they helped offenders with obstacles to desistance. Their opinions were contrasted to those of other practitioners and the views of desisters. Despite the methodological limitations of this small scale study, one can nonetheless attempt to formulate a few conclusions: French probation services have a good idea of what it takes to desist, but have neither the capacity nor the will to effectively help offenders to do so. Their perception is for the most part confirmed by desisters. However, they differ on several desistance factors such as peers and budget. Another French trait is revealed: both practitioners and desisters think that Making Good (Maruna, 2001) is irrelevant. Some cultural factors are suggested in order to try and explain this surprising discovery.

The pains of desistance

“…Some research studies have examined (in passing) what the experience of desistance is like for those who are less ‘successful’ than Maruna’s and Aresti’s interviewees, but who still seem to be managing to stay away from crime. In French research, most desisters were found to live a ‘normal’ life, concentrating on themselves and their families, rather than trying to contribute to society at large (Herzog-Evans, 2011). Healy (2010) also found little evidence of generativity in a sample of desisters.…”

French third sector participation in probation and reentry: Complementary or competitive?

“…Clearly the message that most of these young authors convey is that social work is now becoming a thing of the past in France (Dindo, 2011; de Larminat, 2012; Rintaud, 2008). A study into the practices of supporting desistance amongst French POs and what desisters thought about them sadly confirmed that actively supporting desistance or addressing offenders’ needs was, in general, not part and parcel of French probation work (Herzog-Evans, 2011b). It was clear from the POs’ discourse that a lot of them had lost touch with their original social work ethos and identity (Perrier, 2013) and that this identity was now shifting towards, on the one hand, a rather distant and more often than not loose control, and, on the other hand, judicial clerk-like work consisting in the preparation of decisions for and acting as a go-between with the JAP and community agencies and resources (Herzog-Evans, 2013 b).…”

“…Associations are also involved in services that probation services do not take on, either by choice or culture (Herzog-Evans, 2011b), such as working with families, victims, addiction, health, education or vocational training. Importantly, associations are increasingly in charge of social work, which probation services have essentially abandoned in the recent years.…”

Rethinking What Helps? Beyond Probation and Desistance

“…Their message is a positive one and it made me reflect on previous research I had conducted on desistance à la française (Herzog‐Evans ) where French probation officers told me almost word for word, the same thing: their major role was to plant seeds which they hoped might later flourish. At the time, I analysed this as particularly revealing of their lack of ambition and their abstaining, and unsupportive supervision.…”