Given that the MoJ and HMPPS remain keen to carry on digging an ever-deeper hole, this from the area manager of London CRC via Twitter highlights the issue of genuine innovation and enlightened practice development being extinguished shortly with the demise of the CRC's:-
Today Clinks is launching a new online evidence library for the criminal justice voluntary sector. The project was born out of one of the key pledges in our current strategy: “To support the sector with access to evidence and provide support to develop and utilise evidence”.
We set out to produce a far-reaching and accessible evidence base relating to the most common types of activity undertaken in the criminal justice system.
We were clear that this was not an academic exercise; rather we were motivated to make it easy for voluntary sector providers to access the most up-to-date evidence around what works in order to improve their practice and increase their chances of being commissioned. We hope that, over time, commissioners of services for people in contact with the criminal justice system (and their families) will also become familiar with the resource and base their service specifications on the latest evidence. We commissioned Russell Webster to develop the online evidence base on Clinks’ behalf.
The first article in the series is published today. Patrick Williams has written a concise, authoritative evidence review which provides an in-depth look at the growing rates of racial disparity in our criminal justice system and highlights key principles for effective interventions with people from Black, mixed, Asian and other minority ethnic backgrounds in contact with that system.
Patrick reviews the current evidence-base, to which he is an important contributor, and covers a number of key issues:
Racial disparity within the criminal justice system
The multidimensionality of social inequalities experienced by minority groups
The lack of a clear strategy and officially approved programs to tackle racial disparity
The criminal justice system’s preoccupation with risk, as opposed to need
Principles to govern minority ethnic interventions
The importance of acknowledging racialisation and racism(s)
Community empowerment models
The argument for paying participants to engage
The importance of the voluntary sector.
Over the next few months, we will be publishing a number of new evidence reviews. The next one to be published is by Mary Corcoran who examines the use of cost-benefit analyses of service provision in a number of different contexts, all of them particularly relevant to voluntary sector organisations working in the criminal justice system. This will be followed by Patricia Durr’s review of the evidence of the growing field of trauma-informed practice and its application to the criminal justice system, in particular prisons.
Evidence reviews on a gendered approach to working with people who have offended (by Loraine Gelsthorpe) and the desistance model (by Hannah Graham) will follow later this year.
The topics for this first tranche of evidence reviews were not selected by chance but were the result of a poll of Clinks members undertaken at last year’s conference.
All these evidence reviews have been designed to be up-to-date, authoritative and accessible − in the sense that they are both free to download and have been written in plain (non-academic) English. They are all between 800 - 2,000 words long and include a short reading list linking to key texts for people who wish to explore the topic in greater detail. Wherever possible, we have sought to locate free-to-access versions of these key texts (hosted on such sites as ResearchGate).
Like everyone else, our plans have been somewhat influenced by Covid-19. For this reason, these first evidence reviews are being published as stand-alone documents. However, we hope to work on a new section of the Clinks website to host what we hope will become an extensive library of evidence for everyone in the field to use.
We will shortly be consulting with Clinks’ members again for suggestions on the key topics which you would like to see as the subjects of forthcoming evidence reviews. If you have any immediate thoughts on this or would like to share your views on the library in general, you can contact Russell Webster – who is co-ordinating this work on behalf of Clinks – at solutions@russellwebster.com
We would like to take this opportunity to publicly send our heartfelt thanks to all the contributors who found the time to share their expertise by writing a review. Please get in touch and share your feedback on this new resource and let us know how we can make it better.
"We need to look at the evolution of oasys. Originally designed to be used as a dynamic tool to remove bias from assessments. Yes it’s now unwieldy and far from user friendly. It’s a shame that innovative tools like omnia used in London and Thames valley are likely to be lost"Make no mistake, probation as many of us know it should be is being strangled by the ever-tighter command and control structure of the NPS and whilst it disappears into a black hole of government spin and depressing diktat, in stark contrast the 'third sector' clearly has a spring in its step and may yet ironically prove to be probation's saviour. This from the official cheerleader Clinks:-
Today Clinks is launching a new online evidence library for the criminal justice voluntary sector. The project was born out of one of the key pledges in our current strategy: “To support the sector with access to evidence and provide support to develop and utilise evidence”.
We set out to produce a far-reaching and accessible evidence base relating to the most common types of activity undertaken in the criminal justice system.
We were clear that this was not an academic exercise; rather we were motivated to make it easy for voluntary sector providers to access the most up-to-date evidence around what works in order to improve their practice and increase their chances of being commissioned. We hope that, over time, commissioners of services for people in contact with the criminal justice system (and their families) will also become familiar with the resource and base their service specifications on the latest evidence. We commissioned Russell Webster to develop the online evidence base on Clinks’ behalf.
The first article in the series is published today. Patrick Williams has written a concise, authoritative evidence review which provides an in-depth look at the growing rates of racial disparity in our criminal justice system and highlights key principles for effective interventions with people from Black, mixed, Asian and other minority ethnic backgrounds in contact with that system.
Patrick reviews the current evidence-base, to which he is an important contributor, and covers a number of key issues:
Racial disparity within the criminal justice system
The multidimensionality of social inequalities experienced by minority groups
The lack of a clear strategy and officially approved programs to tackle racial disparity
The criminal justice system’s preoccupation with risk, as opposed to need
Principles to govern minority ethnic interventions
The importance of acknowledging racialisation and racism(s)
Community empowerment models
The argument for paying participants to engage
The importance of the voluntary sector.
Over the next few months, we will be publishing a number of new evidence reviews. The next one to be published is by Mary Corcoran who examines the use of cost-benefit analyses of service provision in a number of different contexts, all of them particularly relevant to voluntary sector organisations working in the criminal justice system. This will be followed by Patricia Durr’s review of the evidence of the growing field of trauma-informed practice and its application to the criminal justice system, in particular prisons.
Evidence reviews on a gendered approach to working with people who have offended (by Loraine Gelsthorpe) and the desistance model (by Hannah Graham) will follow later this year.
The topics for this first tranche of evidence reviews were not selected by chance but were the result of a poll of Clinks members undertaken at last year’s conference.
All these evidence reviews have been designed to be up-to-date, authoritative and accessible − in the sense that they are both free to download and have been written in plain (non-academic) English. They are all between 800 - 2,000 words long and include a short reading list linking to key texts for people who wish to explore the topic in greater detail. Wherever possible, we have sought to locate free-to-access versions of these key texts (hosted on such sites as ResearchGate).
Like everyone else, our plans have been somewhat influenced by Covid-19. For this reason, these first evidence reviews are being published as stand-alone documents. However, we hope to work on a new section of the Clinks website to host what we hope will become an extensive library of evidence for everyone in the field to use.
We will shortly be consulting with Clinks’ members again for suggestions on the key topics which you would like to see as the subjects of forthcoming evidence reviews. If you have any immediate thoughts on this or would like to share your views on the library in general, you can contact Russell Webster – who is co-ordinating this work on behalf of Clinks – at solutions@russellwebster.com
We would like to take this opportunity to publicly send our heartfelt thanks to all the contributors who found the time to share their expertise by writing a review. Please get in touch and share your feedback on this new resource and let us know how we can make it better.
On a side note- PQIP is being outsourced to the private sector.What could possibly go wrong?
ReplyDeleteIs third sector probations saviour?
ReplyDeleteIf we're talking about the conceptual basis of what probation was founded on, then perhaps the answer is yes.
If we're talking about probation as a public service organisation in its own right, then I rather think the opposite might be true.
I think the probation service is a long way down the road towards the American model, with its focus on enforcement and policing of licence conditions. When rehabilitative services are not the core function of probation anymore, but farmed out to external agencies then probation as a public service becomes solely engaged with enforcement.
I'm not sure if I see that as a saviour for probation, or a further nudge up the road to a dumbed down service, and a collection point for SFOs.
'Getafix
The Third Sector has always tried to delude everyone into believing it is Probation's Saviour, IT IS NOT.
ReplyDeleteThe Third Sector, voluntary and charity organisations of which many secure huge funds and revenue so are not actually voluntary or charitable, in fact work alongside the CJS.
The argument, “we can do the work Probation is to busy to do”, is an insult and needs to end. Probation, when it is managed properly, has very good practice, intervention and research departments.
If we are to rely on Clinks new online evidence library to do our job then something is clearly wrong. Likewise, academics tend to hold a monopoly as to what is academic thought in order to sell their books, with the new nonsense buzzword for the new generation of criminology lecturers being “sensory criminology”. Proceed with caution.
https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/trustees-no-longer-accept-choice-between-ethical-investment-and-financial-returns.html
DeleteAcademic are queuing up to tell us about the impact of Covid-19 on offenders / prisoners. I doubt any have met more than a handful !
ReplyDelete“Unfortunately, the National Probation Service and Community Rehabilitation Companies are demonstrably constrained in attempts to deliver services that acknowledge the inequality that persists within the CJS.”
ReplyDelete“n order to usher in interventions that address the multi-dimensionality of personal, social and crime- causative needs, there is perhaps a more pressing need for the probation service and Community Rehabilitation Companies across England and Wales to shift from their pre-contemplative state and embrace change to ensure the implementation of approaches that empower individuals away from the CJS.”
I do respect any academic putting their work out there. However, these two statements show that Dr Patrick Williams is behind the curve and has a limited understanding of probation.
Probation has been historically institutionally racist, and still is, but these above statements generalise all probation offices / officers and ignore the many diverse and credible probation office / officers that do help offenders to stop offending and successfully change their lives for the better.
It is unfortunate Dr Williams published this via Clinks, as opposed to a peer reviewed journal that would have included his contact details to provide feedback.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/labourlist.org/2020/09/labour-can-once-more-be-the-party-of-law-and-order/%3famp
ReplyDeleteProbation can only be saved by being entirely dismantled and starting again from the roots. So much of the good has been lost to corruption and the third sector are unlikely to be able to change any of this. Change has to come from the inside, unfortunately with a rotten core it will take an absolute scandal for anything to be done. everyone just going along with the grain is contributing to this. middle managers are allowed to bully staff and only the rotten ones will be left.
ReplyDeleteHaving served many years sadly it is the corrupted leadership's that perpetuate their own domains and promote their accolytes. The structure is institutionally prejudiced against all diversity and despite claims of trying it attacks all it does not like as the chosen.
Deletehttps://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/18714092.mother-burnham-man-hit-train-slams-cruel-callous-probation-officer-said-son-bad-man/
Deletehttps://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/sep/11/scale-of-failure-in-prison-system-staggering-say-mps
ReplyDeleteScale of failure in prison system staggering, say MPs
Minister have not met pledge to improve condition of prison estate, committee says
there is “no sign of a cross-government strategy for reducing reoffending”, it says.
The committee says the failures at the Ministry of Justice echo the disastrous and now abandoned reforms to probation services introduced by Chris Grayling when he was justice secretary.
“The scale of failure in our prisons and in the disastrous probation reforms is really quite staggering,” said Meg Hillier, the committee’s chair. “The ministry is still reeling from the long-term consequences of its unrealistic 2015 spending review settlement, but our whole society is bearing the financial and human cost of sustained underinvestment. Even now we are not convinced MoJ and HMPPS [the Prison and Probation Service] have the ingredients for an effective, sustainable long-term strategy.
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5801/cmselect/cmpubacc/244/24402.htm
ReplyDeletethe PAC report is here
Summary
The Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service have failed in their attempts to improve the condition and suitability of the prison estate. Despite promises to create 10,000 new-for-old prison places by 2020, just 206 new places have been delivered so far, and prisoners continue to be held in unsafe, crowded conditions that do not meet their needs. Budget cuts imposed at a time of much promised reform across the department have exacerbated the challenges to these ambitious programmes which have been on the cards for over a decade. As we saw with the Ministry’s inability to successfully contract out services during probation reforms, the Ministry has once again exposed taxpayers to higher than expected costs as a result of inadequate planning, unrealistic assumptions and poor performance whilst managing facilities within prisons. HMPPS has allowed a staggering backlog of maintenance work to build up that will cost more than £900 million to address. This means that 500 prison places are taken permanently out of action each year due to their poor condition. Prisons play a crucial role in supporting prisoners to stay away from crime on their release and reduce the £18.1 billion cost to the economy of reoffending each year. The poor condition of many prisons, coupled with high levels of overcrowding, are contributing to dangerously high levels of violence and self-harm in prisons. Despite our recommendations in May 2019, there is still no sign of a cross-government strategy for reducing reoffending.
Although COVID-19 has eased pressure on demand for prison places in the short-term, we are concerned about the Ministry’s ability to both improve the condition of the estate, and meet rising demand through building new prison places in the medium to long-term. The Ministry’s track record does not inspire confidence, and there is limited headroom in the prison estate to allow the space for vital maintenance work. The Ministry is now optimistic about both its capacity and capability to improve the prison estate and its future financial position. But it will need to demonstrate it has learnt lessons from its past failures and that it has a coherent long-term and fully funded plan in order to make genuine progress.
uk calamity govt covid-19 data fri 11/9/2020
ReplyDeletetesting: still stuck on 2/9/20 data
new cases: 3,539 : meaning week-to-date = 17,473
deaths within 28 days etc: 6
hospitalisations: still stuck on 2/9/20 data
FranK.
Why aren't you also providing daily updates on the numbers of deaths from all causes each day? Eg the approx 450 who sadly die from cancer in the UK every day, the approx 460 who sadly die from heart disease in the UK each day, etc. Those deaths need highlighting too.
DeleteBecause they are not as a result of infections from a world pandemic - or are you are a Covid - 19 denier?
DeleteI can provide some figures from ONS, but its a retrospective weekly release & not updated daily, its England & Wales not UK-wide & is not specific about cancer, heart disease, etc. It might not be that helpful. However, this is from the ONS 8 Sept release:
Delete"The number of deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 28 August 2020 (Week 35) was 9,032.
In Week 35, the number of deaths registered was 9.6% above the five-year average (791 deaths higher); this is the third consecutive week that weekly deaths have been above the five-year average, however, the rise was not driven by the coronavirus (COVID-19)."
The number of covid-19 deaths per the govt's criteria for that week was 75. The govt criteria is that a death is counted as a covid-19 death if it occurs within 28 days of the first positive test. But...
... there are many who are experiencing 'long covid' or 'chronic covid' which means their deaths are most likely attributable to contraction of covid-19, but their death may be months after they first tested positive. They have been excluded from the govt data set.
FranK.
E mail from NAPO about events of the week.
ReplyDeleteWages are not mentioned.can they be reminded that our anniversary date is April.
Can you please let the people you purport to represent know what is happening?
Probation Reform ballot underway
DeleteNapo has launched a ballot for CRC members on the Collective Agreement to support the transfer of CRC staff to the National Probation Service or a provider of Dynamic Framework services in June next year. The ballot will also include those members who transferred to NPS Wales last December from their former employer SEETEC.
This follows the decision by Napo’s Probation Negotiating Committee to endorse the final outcome of the complex negotiations that have taken place over 18 months and which have included the impact of the major U-turn in Government policy in June that will see all Probation services returned to public ownership and control in 2021.
The ballot period started on the 10th September and all of our members working in a CRC (as well as new members who apply to join Napo in sufficient time before the close of the ballot on September 30th) are entitled to vote.
Napo and our sister unions are recommending that CRC members vote ‘Yes’ in this important ballot and are encouraging maximum participation. Local Napo reps will be supported by Napo National Officials in assisting with enquiries from members.
Members who are not involved in the ballot can access the supporting material here for information. Members involved in the ballot will already have received a separate email with additional information and a voting link.
NEC meeting
Napo’s National Executive Committee met via Zoom this week to consider a range of key negotiating issues for members working across all of the employers where Napo has recognition and our external engagement work such as TUC 2020 planning for AGM and our financial priorities. Please look out for specific briefings on these and other topics over the coming weeks.
Health and Safety
Further Risk Assessment training for Napo Health and Safety Reps and C-19 workplace contacts was held by National Official Sarah Friday this week. This supplements the earlier training and seminars for activists who are undertaking vital work to protect colleagues and clients against the spread of the virus. We salute your efforts.
Black Members Network
A highly uplifting online meeting has just concluded organised by Acting Assistant General Secretary Ranjit Singh, featuring Ian Lawrence General Secretary, National Chair Katie Lomas, NEC Black Member Maureen Vernon and London Napo Branch Chair Patricia Johnson.
The meeting was attended by nearly 80 members. Among the key issues debated were the re-energised political climate that has come about following the horrendous examples of racially motivated murders in the USA, the injustices suffered by BAME communities during the C-19 crisis, and the world wide protests and demands for structural change inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement.
News that the General Secretary has been invited onto the new TUC Race Equality Task Group was welcomed, and a stimulating debate took place on the launch of the campaign to see an Anti-Racist Officer established on every Napo Branch Executive, and how employers could play a part in supporting their activities within the workforce and wider communities.
Napo at the TUC next week
It’s not too late to Register for the online Trade Union 2020 Congress next Monday and Tuesday where National Chair Katie Lomas and Ian Lawrence are scheduled to make contributions in two of the live keynote debates and raise a question directly with Labour Party Leader Sir Keir Starmer about the future of the Probation Service.
Napo HQ
Is this a losers show where's the pay and where is the new agreement before I vote . Why include Wales anyway they already went into NPS Napo as always
Deletegood to see Interserve advertising for case managers - hopefully to take cases off the overloaded current staff members who are drowning under the caseload numbers and complexity of cases. i'm curious as to why it's just before our pending merge back to NPS tho. Hmm
ReplyDeletehttps://www.careers.interserve.com/jobs/vacancy/case-manager-9061/9090/description/?_channelid=13&utm_source=Indeed&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=Indeed
"This follows the decision by Napo’s Probation Negotiating Committee to endorse the final outcome of the complex negotiations that have taken place over 18 months and which have included the impact of the major U-turn in Government policy in June that will see all Probation services returned to public ownership and control in 2021."
ReplyDeleteBULLSHIT 1 - there was no major U-turn in Government policy
BULLSHIT 2 - all Probation services will not be returned to public ownership and control in 2021 because they had never been taken away; they were contracted out with NPS/HMPPS/MoJ oversight/control.
"Napo and our sister unions are recommending that CRC members vote ‘Yes’ in this important ballot and are encouraging maximum participation." And so complicit Napo once again actively endorse the shafting of probation staff. It didn't go well before. Hundreds lost their jobs/careers/livelihoods/entitlement to EVR. It won't go well again.
Shame, shame, shame.
Ian Lawrence is just not equipped to do the job of Napo general secretary. This illustrated what we all must do something about.
Deletehttps://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/thinktank-backs-smarter-community-sentences-to-cut-reoffending/5105611.article
ReplyDeletehttps://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/18716169.support-worker-ex-offenders/
Seems a large area for just one person to cover.