NCJ Number
129763
Date Published
1991
Length
238 pages
Annotation
Information on the rationale, origin, and development of the community probation team established in the Brixton area of London, England following the major disturbances there in 1981 forms the basis of community developments in the British probation service.
Abstract
The analysis focuses on developments in community probation work which focuses on providing service to individual offenders; crime prevention work which focuses generally on crime rather than on specific offenders; and community work which entails community development, social planning, and social action. The analysis also considers the construction of Social Enquiry Reports, group work initiatives, approaches to addressing racism, and explanations for the disproportionate number of minority group members in custody. The discussion argues that although the developments in community probation appear to be suitable and necessary for addressing crime and social problems in inner cities, they still retain marginal status. It also argues that where social pressures and forms of social punishment already exist, further official punishments are likely to be ineffective and to create enforcement problems. Tables, notes, appended methodological information and tables, index, and 493 references