Moving Away from Social Work and Half Way Back Again: New Research on Skills in Probation

Abstract

Research on social work in the criminal justice system was well represented in the social work literature until the 1990s. Since then, changes in the organisation, training and research base of probation practice, particularly in England and Wales, have all contributed to a separation between probation research and the mainstream social work research literature. However, recent probation research, by focusing on individual practice skills and on the quality of relationships, is producing findings which resonate with traditional social work concerns. The study presented here, based on analysis of videotaped interviews between probation staff and the people they are supervising, shows what skills are used and the effects of skilled supervision. People supervised by more skilled staff were significantly less likely to be reconvicted over a two-year follow-up, and the most effective supervisors combined good relationship skills with a range of ‘structuring’ or change-promoting skills. In effect, this can be regarded as a test of the impact of social work skills used by probation staff and suggests that a closer relationship between mainstream social work research and probation research could be productive for both.

‘From disaster to master’: Exploring the journey beyond desistance in Ireland

“…In the context of this paper, I am most concerned with the role of the probation officer or criminal justice social worker in the desistance journey. The value of a strong working relationship between probation officer and probationer is clear from Wayne’s account and is also well-documented in the desistance literature (Burnett and McNeill, 2005; Farrall, 2005; Raynor and Vanstone, 2016; Rex, 1999). Recent work by Durnescu et al (2018) even tests a model for measuring offenders’ experiences of supervision across a range of European states including Ireland.…”

Probation

“…Th erefore, high-quality probation supervision can play a signifi cant role in the reduction of off ending when it involves, fi rst, the use of relationship skills (such as clear communication, listening attentively, creating an environment conducive to helping, positivity, conveying optimism, empathy, being clear about roles and responsibilities), and, second, the use of structuring skills (such as problem-solving, motivation building, subtle challenging, refl ection, supporting self-effi cacy, developing discrepancies and rolling with resistance). Interestingly, the majority of probation offi cers in Jersey had experienced social work training, and what can be inferred from the study's fi ndings is that traditional social work skills within a structure of motivational interviewing, pro-social modelling, problem-solving and cognitive structuring can be a potent ingredient of resettlement work (Miller and Rollnick 2002 ;Trotter 1993 ;Fabiano and Porporino 2002 ;Raynor and Vanstone 2015 ). Th e obvious caveat here is that other research makes clear that this contribution has to be informed by more general research fi ndings on what is now termed desistance from off ending.…”

From ‘nothing works’ to ‘post-truth’: The rise and fall of evidence in British probation

“…The authors of the White Paper had few doubts: they saw the Probation Service as a 'nation-wide network of qualified social case-workers' (Home Office, 1959: 20) fit to assume demanding new tasks in the after-care of prisoners. Others, however, were sceptical of the claims of the young social work profession, with which probation was largely identified at that time (and still should be, though that is another story: see, among others, Raynor and Vanstone, 2015). As early as 1943, the sociologist C. Wright Mills argued that attributing social problems to individual malfunctions distracted attention from the need for wider policy reforms (Mills, 1943).…”