Future of the Probation Service: A View From Government (From Criminal Justice System: A Central Role for the Probation Service, P 1-8, 1989)

• NCJ Number: 121355
• Author(s): D E R Faulkner
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 8 pages
• Corporate Author: University of Cambridge
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: Proceedings of the Clarke Hall Residential Conference held at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, in July 1989.

Annotation

The issues facing probation service in the 1990s are discussed.

Abstract

Probation service is one of the five criminal justice services, the others being the police, the courts, the Prison Service, and the Crown Prosecution Service. Probation service is acknowledged to be a service having its roots in social work and is equipped to influence human behavior, analyze offenders' circumstances and situations, and mobilize resources and construct programs through which these influences and opportunities can be realized. However, due to rising crime and fear of crime, the service needs a more coherent sense of its own identity and values. Leadership and management are needed, including the setting of both individual and corporate objectives, measuring their achievement, identifying target groups, guaranteeing the delivery of services and maintaining their quality, holding individuals to account, and handling the service's increasingly complicated external relationships. Effective management needs information; research and statistics are crucial. In much of the research, there is a lack of consistency and too much reliance on individual initiatives; there is a need for uniform, consistent aims and methods.