It's an extraordinary situation. Ask the average person on the street what they think probation is all about and most would say something along the lines of 'don't they help people in trouble with the law?' Those with a bit more knowledge will be aware that past legislation required us to 'advise, assist and befriend' offenders and that all probation officers had to be qualified social workers. That all changed when Paul Boetang famously rebranded us as a 'law enforcement agency' and we were set on the present punitive path where 'resources follow risk'.
I have blogged many times on the tensions this has caused between old and new-style officers. However, what is becoming more evident is that many newer colleagues are beginning to rail against what they increasingly see as a failed approach towards offenders. It shouldn't be that surprising of course because basically our everyday clientelle have remained pretty much the same with the same range of problems and deficits. What has changed is our method of interacting with them in the new spirit of just trying to deal with the 'offending behaviour' bit of things.
Now eventually all bright new practitioners will realise this is just so much rubbish and that 'offending' cannot be looked at in isolation. Even NOMS realises this and identified some time ago what they term as the seven 'pathways' that need to be addressed in order to reduce re-offending. The following is copied from a prison education website, but exactly the same headings can be applied to clients in the community and none of it is rocket science, as they say.
Accommodation and support. A third of prisoners do not have settled accommodation prior to custody and it is estimated that stable accommodation can reduce the likelihood of re-offending by more than a fifth. It also provides the vital building blocks for a range of other support services and gaining employment.
Education, training and employment. Having a job can reduce the risk of re-offending by between a third and a half. There is a strong correlation between offending, poor literacy, language and numeracy skills and low achievement. Many offenders have a poor experience of education and no experience of stable employment.
Health. Offenders are disproportionately more likely to suffer from mental and physical health problems than the general population and also have high rates of alcohol misuse. Not surprisingly, 31% of adult prisoners were found to have emotional well being issues linked to their offending behaviour.
Drugs and alcohol. Around two thirds of prisoners use illegal drugs in the year before imprisonment and intoxication by alcohol is linked to 30% of sexual offences, 33% of burglaries, 50% of street crime and about half of all violent crimes.
Finance, benefits and debt. Ensuring that ex-offenders have sufficient lawfully obtained money to live on is vital to their rehabilitation. Around 48% of prisoners report a history of debt, which gets worse for about a third of them during custody and about 81% of offenders claim benefit on release.
Children and families. Maintaining strong relationships with families and children can play a major role in helping prisoners to make and sustain changes that help them to avoid re-offending. This is difficult because custody places added strains on family relationships.
Attitudes, thinking & behaviour. Prisoners are more likely to have negative social attitudes and poor self-control. Successfully addressing their attitudes, thinking and behaviour during custody may reduce re-offending by up to 14%.
Now I'm struggling to see which, if any of the above, is not in some way connected to a human beings welfare. Contrary to belief in some quarters, probation is very much involved in welfare.
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