The Relational Context of Desistance: Some Implications and Opportunities for Social Policy

Weaver, Beth

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9515.2012.00840.x

Cited by 62 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Drawing on experience of increasing choice and control of care and support through the use of personal budgets from the social care sector, a new model is being developed for more personalised approaches to offender rehabilitation (Fox andMarsh 2016, Fox et al 2013). Co-production will be key to this, although negotiating meaningful co-production in the criminal justice system presents many challenges (Weaver 2012). This requires new approaches to assessment and sentence planning, new training for staff and rethinking the language of practice (McNeil et al 2012).…”

Section: Learning From the Social Care Sectormentioning

confidence: 99%

Piloting different approaches to personalised offender management in the English criminal justice system

Fox

Harrison

Marsh³

et al. 2018

International Review of Sociology

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words max)Various approaches to personalisation are well-established in the UK social care sector and are now starting to 'travel' to othe sectors. In this paper we report findings from an evaluation of a pilot to test elements of personalisation in the management of offenders in probation services within the English criminal justice system. Following a review of evidence from social care, three different approaches to personalised-practice were developed and tested on a small-scale in three separate sites. The evaluation finds that all three approaches were implemented reasonably successfully, but challenges were identified including that personalised approaches are more time-consuming, that staff need support to exercise professional discretion and that balancing greater choice with managing criminogenic risk requires new ways of conceptualising the relationship between case manager and service user. Overall, 'deeper' approaches to personalisation such coproduction will take time to emerge. This paper makes two important contributions to the debate on personalisation in public services. First, it addresses the question of how transferable the concept of personalisation is from the social care sector to other sectors in the UK, in this case the criminal justice system. Secondly, it outlines a methodology for developing and evaluating personalisation pilots, prior to wider rollout. Person-centred Practice:Person-centred practices were adopted by selected and trained staff and managers within a single team managing a mixed caseload. A strong emphasis was placed on staff and service users co-producing a rehabilitation plan and professional discretion to tailor supervision to the holistic needs of the service user. The pilot explored the effect of person-centred practice on the process of co-production of rehabilitation plans for service users as well as on staff in the CRC. Person-centred Practice with access to an Enabling Fund:In addition to the model of personcentred practice implemented in the first pilot, this pilot also included an enabling fund, a form of personal budget. The enabling fund was designed to support rehabilitative goals that could not be progressed through existing services such as accredited or non-accredited programmes, welfare payments or referrals to other agencies. The pilot explored the effect of person-centred practice and access to a form of personal budget on the process of co-production for staff and service users.

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Section: Learning From the Social Care Sectormentioning

confidence: 99%

Piloting different approaches to personalised offender management in the English criminal justice system

Fox

Harrison

Marsh³

et al. 2018

International Review of Sociology

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“…All highlighted that desistance from offending is not something that can be done alone, and in support of other research, as well as the service, girlfriends, friends and in fewer cases family were cited as being vital (Bottoms et al, 2004;Weaver, 2012). In short, all felt that the service had given them an opportunity to live a new life, and the impact to both the individual and society is arguably immeasurable.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Reaching the ‘Hardest to Reach’

Nugent¹

2014

Youth Justice

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Services can play a vital role in promoting desistance from offending for those leaving prison. However, young men are the least likely group to engage with or sustain contact with support, and the most likely to return to prison. This article presents findings from a longitudinal evaluation in Scotland which highlights the often unreported wary attitude that this population have towards services, but also the ways in which this can be overcome. Ultimately, it is argued that a youth work-and solution-focused approach can be successful, and above all else the key worker's persistence in building relationships crucial.

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“…Peer mentoring can be theorised as a form of politicisation, given that it permits a voice of experience, which has long been ‘silenced, subjugated or disqualified … [as] prisoners’ version of “the truth” is located at the bottom of the hierarchy of knowledge’ (Ballinger , p.110). It also works ‘beyond … the cognitive deficit model to harness the strengths residing in peer support networks’ (Weaver , p.407). However, this radical potential coexists with a focus which remains upon ‘offenders’ as recipients, as subjects who require improvement with the help of morally superior others.…”

Section: Theorising Peer Mentoring As Politicalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Politicisation or Professionalisation? Exploring Divergent Aims Within UK Voluntary Sector Peer Mentoring

Buck

2019

Howard J Crime Justice

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Meaningful 'user involvement' is an established aim of social work practice, and increasingly, an aspiration of criminal justice, yet there are unique challenges to participatory work within punitive contexts. Drawing upon a study of peer mentoring in the voluntary sector, this article unveils some core tensions related to (ex)service user involvement in criminal justice. Interviews with mentors, mentees, and key stakeholders, along with direct observations of practice, reveal that respondents often see their work as personal-political, emphasising the value of lived expertise and of collective action to address limiting social conditions. Simultaneously, however, mentoring is framed nationally and shaped locally by more established aims to correct, improve, and manage, individual 'offenders'. There is, therefore, a fundamental tension between processes of politicisation, or coming together to assert a user voice and affect social change; and professionalisation, wherein mentors are co-opted into forms of practice they often critique.

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The Relational Context of Desistance: Some Implications and Opportunities for Social Policy

Cited by 62 publications

References 28 publications

Piloting different approaches to personalised offender management in the English criminal justice system

Piloting different approaches to personalised offender management in the English criminal justice system

Reaching the ‘Hardest to Reach’

Politicisation or Professionalisation? Exploring Divergent Aims Within UK Voluntary Sector Peer Mentoring

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