What a line-up. The guest blog 104 author is right to ask: where are our voices and champions today? Reading through these essays, I see familiar and respected names, Mike Guilfoyle, Russell Webster, Fergus McNeill, alongside our Napo Mike Guilfoyle essay winner and others. Their words, written so far back in 2013, still ring true with unsettling relevance.
It sends a cold shiver to realise how accurately and easily these voices foresaw the shambles that followed, and how completely they were ignored. Perhaps that is why so few speak out now: because it was all said over a decade ago, and nobody took notice.
Consider these warnings:
“If the Ministry of Justice does not get it ‘right first time’ then its reforms may fall incredibly short of its proposed intention to draw on the best services that can be offered by practitioners across the public, private and voluntary services, so that better support can be delivered to offenders. The risk is that if the current level of support, rehabilitation and risk management is not maintained, in conjunction with the necessary opportunities for the continuous training and development of practitioners within the field of probation and community rehabilitation, then it is not just probation workers that will affected, but to a larger extent service-users, victims and the public that may suffer, potentially with grave consequences.”https://mmuperu.co.uk/bjcj/articles/the-implications-of-transforming-rehabilitation-and-the-importance-of-probation-practitioner-skills-methods-and-initiatives-in-working-with-service-users/
“The long term outlook is either the consolidation of a society based on surveillance, control and warehousing of an underclass or the resurrection of tradition probation through social work with offenders provided by extending the remit of local authority social work - if, that is, it has in the meantime managed to escape a similar fate.”https://mmuperu.co.uk/bjcj/articles/risk-and-privatisation/
“Re-offending is a social and costly problem, therefore unless the social issues are addressed, more punishment will not work.”https://mmuperu.co.uk/bjcj/articles/a-social-approach-to-the-process-of-rehabilitation-2/
“Probation has made a unique contribution to criminal justice and although many would argue that it has lost much by way of its traditional roots, professionalism and identity, it still merits its place at the centre of any rehabilitative revolution. Arguably it has long been transforming rehabilitation. Let us hope that it can find its voice again?”https://mmuperu.co.uk/bjcj/articles/a-probation-officers-brief-reflections-on-twenty-years-of-rehabilitative-transformation/
“Of course, this plan is politically naive and relies on a hard-to-imagine long-term cross-party alliance that focuses on effective justice policy instead of a competition to be seen as the toughest on crime.”https://mmuperu.co.uk/bjcj/articles/my-rehabilitation-revolution/
“Doing justice is not a task that we should contract out because it is a civic duty that citizens owe to one another. When we seek to sell off our mutual obligations to one another, we weaken the moral bonds between us, because we treat as merely instrumental things that are in fact constitutive of ‘the good society’. Rehabilitation is one such good; it is a duty that citizens owe to one another. Those that offend owe it to those they have offended. Those that punish also owe it to those that they have punished.”https://mmuperu.co.uk/bjcj/articles/transforming-rehabilitation-evidence-values-and-ideology/
So I ask again: Lammy, Timpson, Jones, are you listening?
--oo00oo--
I'm greatful to the reader for supplying some edited highlights from David Lammy's recent conference speech:-
This is not just another brief for me, it feels like coming home. Conference, in taking the role of Lord Chancellor, my starting point is Magna Carta:
This is not just another brief for me, it feels like coming home. Conference, in taking the role of Lord Chancellor, my starting point is Magna Carta:
No one is above the law. No one should have justice delayed. No one should have justice denied.And yet under the Conservatives, Prisons bursting at 99% capacity. Courts with record backlogs — rape victims waiting years. Legal aid deserts across the land. Probation officers at breaking point. Justice delayed. Justice denied. That is the Tory legacy we have been left to fix.So, conference, this is how we will put it right.
First, we will rebuild trust. Because justice is not a slogan...
... Probation officers told me: “Help us spend less time on forms, more time changing lives.” So, we will use technology for people, not against them: AI to cut paperwork. Electronic tags to keep communities safe. Digitalised courts that deliver justice without delay.
... Probation officers told me: “Help us spend less time on forms, more time changing lives.” So, we will use technology for people, not against them: AI to cut paperwork. Electronic tags to keep communities safe. Digitalised courts that deliver justice without delay.
Third, punishment that works. In fourteen years, the Tories built just 500 extra prison places. In fourteen months, we have delivered 2,500 — and we’re on track for 14,000 extra prison places by 2031. The fastest prison building programme since the Victorian age.
We are recruiting thousands more probation officers. And let me just say, we in this room know that probation officers are the unsung heroes of our justice system.And we are reforming sentencing, so justice is not just locking people up, but turning lives around.
If you go into prison addicted, we will help you clean up. If you go into prison without skills, we will help you train up. If you go into prison without a chance, we will help you leave with an opportunity. Our Labour Party will never give up on the power of redemption. Working hand in glove with our NHS, with DWP, with businesses and industry, with Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.
Because justice is not the work of one minister, it is the project of a nation united in its pursuit of fairness.While others divide, we will build coalitions that work.
“AI to cut paperwork. Electronic tags to keep communities safe. … ‘Punishment that works.’ … 14,000 extra prison places … reoffenders hauled back to court.”
ReplyDeleteLammy should have read the BJCJ journals first … learn from history, and he might have avoided puffing out that confused bag of hot air. And really? He meets probation and all he hears is ‘we complete too many forms’?
What many people that offend need is housing, support with addiction, healthcare and access to jobs. What probation needs is better pay, high-quality probation officers training and enough staff to do the job properly. We need a focus on professional status, identity and rehabilitation, with probation officers, not civil servants, shaping our role in the criminal justice system.
Tagging, building prisons and playing with AI solve none of that.
Completely agree with 08:43.
DeleteCurrently probation is an expensive and broken agency. What I really fail to understand is ( other then some political capital by appearing tough on crime) what benefits are there and who benefits from driving so many people through the current probation system?
There is no gain as far as I can see.
'Getafix
Nobody mentioned the SFO blame culture. Or the waste churned out by incompetent managers who can’t improve the simplest of systems. Or the cronyism - mates parachuted into senior posts. Or the intimidation of younger staff whose faces don’t fit. Or the forcing out of Black staff. Or the bullying and racism.
DeleteBut yes, of course, AI and tagging will solve all that.
“Broken” is an understatement.
Some well understood points and yet all that Napo waffle about meeting lameee when in shadow role he will look after us just rebounds in my mind as lameee speech evaporated any prospects. Napo are lame as lameee all their hot air nonsense leaves further adrift.
DeleteEverything framed in the context of prisons. There is absolutely no hope for Probation while it is viewed and used as part of the prison system, not an alternative to its (over)use. Its a debate best not had in the political realm. There is no satisfying the whipped up thirst for incarceration and punishment, but on political stages, all parties seem trapped willingly or otherwise in this endless sentencing inflation and the need to be tough. Nobody talks about the eye-watering costs of imprisonment.
ReplyDeleteJust seen Der starmer speech . Lots of blather about class daddy was a tool maker. So he goes on to smash glass ceilings in work. That can never happen in probation . The elitist university grad snobbery it'll never happen in this or another term. At an age I see the bullshit coming it became an avalanche . Starmer is not in touch with the mood of the people. Raising monies from workers and channeling it back to hoteliers for illegals will never be seen as a tolerance is he that unrealistic. When I have clients lied to by path for housing and yet others jump the queue you have to wonder what's at play here. Starmer masquerades as a class hero but all I could see was a marginal better performance than the animal farm Tories. Nonetheless there is not enough resources we will have to find more cash to fund the Boris wave that ain't labours fault but they are not managing the situation properly so while the party faithfully cheer whipped up in a conference celebrations mood back the coal face nothing will change except your GP is now online good luck with that then..
ReplyDeleteStarmer grew up in a good household. He knows that story. He tells it like he's pinnocci, son of a tool maker and a giving mother.
DeleteI grew up in a house of extreme domestic violence (as many of my peers did) and dad was a hard workiing drunken wife beater.The tool makers son is not the baseline place to start life. The tool makers son was pretty privileged. When some people listen to his storyline it's almost feels like he's boasting. I'd have been happy with his, and so would many I know.
Starmer must feel he was a disadvantaged kid to keep telling that story.
He started life in a far better place then many, and enjoys a life that's out of reach for most people.
He should know that as leader of the Labour party.
Everyone's looking up, but those at the top need to glane back now and again.
'Getafix
Quite gtx and not one for the misty glasses then. I heard him say Britain is for everyone although I sense a lot more people he has not understood say Britain is not for everyone any longer.
DeleteI couldn't careless if you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, a lump of coal or beginners tool makers kit, i just care that you're competent, honest and have empathy. These qualities seem as lacking in Government as they are in Probations managerial class.
DeleteMost probation staff in my experience which is why it's in a mess.
Delete"Raising monies from workers and channeling it back to hoteliers for illegals... When I have clients lied to by path for housing and yet others jump the queue... we will have to find more cash to fund the Boris wave "
ReplyDeleteDidn't know Nigel [farage, that is, for clarity] was a probation officer. How's that expensive property in essex working out for you?
Saw this quote this evening, attributed to anonymous (so far):
ReplyDelete"Live your life in such a way that if the elevator stops, you don’t assume it’s because people hate you."
Truth denial reflects so badly by trying to insulting. While farage has stated this point I have repeated it because there really is a large contingent that want this stopped. They have no voice except the next ballot and unless this perception is managed properly the unrest will grow and that's a people's safety risky. I think your snide slant say you cannot consider the implications which is all that was intended I don't own this perspective just remarking on the facts. You will realise the accelerated housing list is not for local clients that is obvious unfairness stoking the divide. You keep the taunts up while your not considering the wider implications.
Delete"I have repeated it because there really is a large contingent that want this stopped... I don't own this perspective just remarking on the facts... "
DeleteWell I do own my own views & I can state without hesitation or obfuscation that I am distressed by the rapid & widespread rise of the neo-fascist, racist movement which farage & others are spearheading.
I am heartbroken by a general lack of humanity on display.
I am beyond horrified at the misdirection, the misinformation & manipulation of an angry & confused population by a broad range of actors including (in no particular order of merit) farage, starmer, johnson, cameron, jenrick, trump, osborne, musk, little tommy (& there are plenty of others) - all of whom are profiting personally from this shitstorm.
In the last decade alone we've had successive govts exploit the country in so many ways: austerity, brexit, stop the boats, the pandemic, "we want our country back", blah blah blah.
And every single one of them says "I'm not a racist, I'm not a bigot, I'm just reflecting the patriotic feelings of others, I'm just presenting the facts, you have to fight, fight, fight..."
So forgive me if I'm not persuaded by your comment, however benign you say your intentions are. The country has been brought to its knees by a succession of privileged, wealthy, powerful bullies who don't give a crap about me, you or the people sent to be supervised by us.
And that attitude is reflected in the way the probation service has been crushed; the way in which the services for those we supervise have been rubbished & defunded; the way in which probation staff have been disempowered & defenestrated.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002kcyy
"In towns and cities across Britain, flags are appearing in ever greater numbers. On rooftops, down terraced streets, outside pubs and community centres, they flutter as both a statement of pride and a challenge to what many feel the country is becoming. In York, the group known as the Flag Force see their work as part of a wider national campaign. For them, raising the Union Flag or the Cross of St George is about honouring history, heritage and a sense of belonging they believe is slowly being stripped away by government neglect, the cost of living crisis and, above all, immigration.
The Flaggers insist their cause is not rooted in racism or exclusion, but in the preservation of British culture. Yet for others, the message is harder to separate. To some, the same symbols that inspire pride in one street can read like a warning in another. Not a call for unity, but a signal that certain people do not belong.
At the heart of this story is a clash of meanings. Supporters describe the flags as an antidote to division, a way to bring fractured communities together under a shared identity. Opponents counter with flags of their own, from Switzerland to Bermuda to the rainbow Pride flag, aiming to show that being British can mean welcoming different cultures rather than resisting them.
The result is a patchwork of banners across the country, each one loaded with history, politics and personal belief. What was once a simple piece of fabric is now a frontline in a debate about who we are and who we want to be. The very symbols meant to unite us are instead exposing how deeply divided we remain."
Selective half quotes . Ok you are clearly disinterested in how many countryman not a humanitarian perspective at all is taking hold. My commentary is not benign as you acknowledge it is now widespread. A labour supporter all my life I heard starmer tell people if the don't like it they can leave. Just on that he has turned supporters into questioners. The point is the whole of Europe is rejecting the multicultural experiment. Integration is markedly failing. Scandals hidden and justice seen as 2 tier. If these unfair accomodations of sub sets are not brought into balance properly then your polish leadership is what people look to. Your own exaggeration of dismissing the lighthouse warning is your ilk and this stamping down than trying to bring people back inside will only reinforce the aggressive changes we are fearing. The flag symbolises that anger it's what comes next all sides needs to consider. Not on your terms though.
Delete"the multicultural experiment" ?
DeleteI give up. You win. Nighty night. X
Integration is failing is the point not far all but many are disenfranchised. Polarised left are just as barking. Look at grass roots labour supporters dropping away. Labour are not reading this well. I think your concerning is insincere . :)
DeleteAnon21:32. “the multicultural experiment”.
ReplyDeleteWho let Reform loose here?
Not reform. What else can you call a process of mixing many different cultures religions and values into a traditional country. Then testing the belief integration will happen. There so much concern and unrest the challenges are coming up all the time. Because integration is failing. I see it in work in the caseload and driving home. It is a failing experiment because there was no certainty it could have worked and this country is debating what it does next. Starmer has made things worse than they were.
DeleteMost of us are already integrated. We’ve been integrated all our lives. It’s people like you that are not, racists and bigots. There was few of you where I work, one was a manager. Everyone cheered when she left. Now it’s a better place.
DeleteName calling won't help appreciate the serious issue of concern. We all know many 2nd 3rd generation have no other identity. After the Manchester Muslim terrorism today from a so called British Syrian that's clearly not integrated is it. We cannot have the middle east situations played out in the UK for any reason. It is quite clear peoples inability to grasp this discussion a difficult nettle that no matter how challenging we need to find a discussion solution and process not continue to ignore dialogue to peace.
Delete" After the Manchester Muslim terrorism today from a so called British Syrian"
DeleteIf the UK govt had called out & condemned the genocidal regime led by netanyahu & his right-wing thugs, if the UK media* had stopped repeating the extremist, curated propaganda from that regime, if the responsibility had been firmly laid at the door of that genocidal regime, accountability for the ongoing atrocities in Gaza would have remained with that regime.
* as far as I'm concerned Jeremy Bowen of BBCnews has been the only sane & measured voice in the UK
Responsibility for the genocide in Gaza does NOT lie with the wider Jewish community, the majority of whom do not support netanyahu's extremist regime.
The continued support for netanyahu's regime by the UK govt & most media has led to confabulation & a dangerous confusion whereby the genocidal regime & the wider Jewish/Israeli population have become regarded as one & the same. They are not.
In the same way that the appalling criminal behaviour of one person is not "Muslim terrorism".
The atrocities committed by Hamas & their associates were widely condemned globally, and rightly so. That does not make every man, woman & child in Gaza a legitimate target for the IDF.
"We cannot have the middle east situations played out in the UK"
While the UK continues to supply arms to any amount of governments in the Middle East, while it continues to take sides, to openly support abusive & repressive regimes, to accept the £billions in trade, to hand ownership of utilities & infrastructure to Middle East investors, then the UK is an active partner.
"dangerous confusion whereby the genocidal regime & the wider Jewish/Israeli population have become regarded as one & the same. They are not."
DeleteNo they are not but to the terrorist they are the target. Worse the terrorist murder of Jews is their religious belief and the terrorist yesterday is not from Gaza. That is islam. It is clear to me this not the place to continue such an exchange no matter how the policies impact on cases.
As for Lammy's remarks we have heard similar over and over again from Justice Ministers for decades including Labour one's back to 1997 who failed to repair the broken probation and social work training system consequent on Michael Howards stupidity and failure to understand that the discipline now called Social Work has underpinned judicial probation since the police court missionaries before 1907.
ReplyDeleteIt is astounding how they speak with honesty once they are out of office - decades ago I suggested we virtually start again perhaps offering courts (as volunteers) supported deferred sentences - I once had a constructive conversation with Francis Crook when she was speaking in Chelmsford in the aftermath of a dreadful case - the details of which I forget not so long after she was first appointed to the Howard League, on the very possibility of some sort of supervised deferment - in a voluntary capacity instead of daft combination orders and subsequent nonensical adjudications that came in after 2014 - I cannot recall what they were called some sort of ...days.
Probation grew incementally due to confidence built up between firstly magistrates and later judges and officers and then from 1967 the government saw fit to abolish the statutory work of the discharged prisoniers aid societies and Borstal After Care Association and additionally pass on the responsibility for monitoring released life licence prisoners from Police to probation and started seconding probation officers into prisons. Statutory training was required and the work progressed for another couple of decades until from 1984 the governement tried to take control and get uniform probation work throughout England and Wales with the impossible and never effective National Standards from about 1992.
Great background and history. I keep saying it, the solutions need to come from those doing probation work.
DeleteThankyou Andrew S Hatton at 22:43 for bringing this thread back on track during a period of me removing comment moderation for a trial period and whilst I was necessarily engaged in other matters. Whilst I'm extremely grateful and gratified that the vast majority of commentators can be relied upon to be responsible, thoughtful, reflective and restrained, there sadly it seems is always at least one person who remains determined to push the bloody boundaries. I want to make one thing absolutely clear - this blog is a 'Reform' free zone. I'm pretty sure it's the same person who just can't stop making the same tired and boorish comments about qualified Probation Officers and it seems I will have to continue using the delete button on their deliberately inflammatory and piss-poorly written diatribes. My apologies to all who quite rightly expect high standards of reasoned debate on this platform., but moderation is now necessarily back.
ReplyDelete