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Human-centred service: MoJ's Kamal Bal on the department's trauma-informed approach
Giving the morning keynote at this year’s PublicTechnology Live conference, Kamal Bal told attendees how the Ministry of Justice is working to improve services by better supporting both users and colleagues
How do you make sure that you treat vulnerable service users with sensitivity and support?
The Ministry of Justice’s digital chief explored this topic at this year’s PublicTechnology Live in London, organised by CSW’s parent company Total Politics.
Kamal Bal told attendees that the services developed by the ministry are informed by the experiences and needs of users – who often “come to interact with us [when] they’re in a position of absolute vulnerability”.
“They’re at a real moment of need,” he added. “That is a common thread that sits across everything we do, and it is key that when they’re interacting with us, they feel supported by the experience they’re interacting with, but they also have trust in it as well.”
To enable these supportive services, Bal said that development of digital and data platforms is underpinned by “four tenets”: human-centred design; data-driven decision making; cross-agency collaboration; and continuous improvement.
To support the tenet of human-centred design, the MoJ has a particular focus on delivering services in a trauma-informed way.
Bal told PublicTechnology Live that the trauma-informed approach “really drives a lot of what we do” across the MoJ’s different types of service user and the agencies that serve them – which includes HM Prison and Probation Service, HM Courts and Tribunals Service, the Legal Aid Agency, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority and the Office of the Public Guardian, which oversees the administration of the lasting power of attorney regime.
The MoJ digital chief said: “If you’ve been a victim of a violent crime, you’ve lived through the trauma of being a victim of that violent crime. You’ve then gone and reported it to the police and had to go through that journey again. Maybe you then get into a conversation with the Crown Prosecution Service and, again, you are presenting the same information. Then someone tells you about this compensation scheme, and you’re going through it again. We are just making people relive that trauma. But we are now consciously seeking to create experience to... avoid the need to do that. We put a lot of focus on user research, and we have a lot of people out and about in the field talking to people to understand: what is the outcome people are seeking?”
Supporting staff
Improving the outcomes for service users is often supported and amplified by making similar improvements for public service staff, according to Bal. Having spent much of his prior career in the consumer world – including stints at Marks and Spencer, Avon and Pizza Hut – the MoJ digital director arrived in government in 2023 with a track record of taking an “obsessive focus on the customer” and their experience.
“When multi-channel retailing came – and the ‘click and collect’ experience in particular at Marks and Spencer – that really highlighted to me that you can create a great customer experience by improving a colleague experience. You’d be amazed at how much work goes on behind the scenes at an M&S store, for example, to make it slick when a customer comes in. And that’s really influenced me because for a long time, I was very much [about] always focusing on the customer. Actually, you can focus on the customer – or the user, in our case – by focusing on your colleagues. The needs of both are really important.”
The MoJ has government’s largest workforce, with more than 100,000 such colleagues across the central ministry and its arm’s-length bodies. Bal cites the example of how digital can provide improvements for prison officers and other staff – and, by extension, help better support prisoners.
“We know, categorically, that if we want to create safe prison working environments, and if we want to help rehabilitate prisoners, it’s all about frontline officers being able to build relationships with them,” he said. “It’s all about being able to spend more time with people and less time on admin.”
For some years, this admin has been largely centred on the complex and unwieldy National Offender Management Information System. This legacy platform requires time-consuming inputs of information such as prisoners’ financial credits, disciplinary issues and alerts, and formal adjudications – data that staff cannot then see collated in one place.
“We’re seeking to transform that and we’ve created the Digital Prison Service… which is now rolling out,” Bal said. “All those key things that staff need to know are now there together in front of them, and that is saving hours a week… if someone is going to meet or have a conversation with [a prisoner], or if they need to try and decide something, all that information is front and centre, and is there for them.”
The digital chief added that, in delivering this service, there was also a “lovely undercurrent… of an intentional focus on replacing legacy” technology systems.
“I’ve been here two years and my quick observation is that there is no silver bullet to doing this, and there is no magical thing that means that in six months, you’re going to be able to go from legacy to something new,” he said. “You have to set an intentional course of action. My team set off on this journey about four years ago, and we’ve probably got about another two to three years to go to get this complete. But we’ve been resolute in our focus.”
Human-centred service: MoJ's Kamal Bal on the department's trauma-informed approach
Giving the morning keynote at this year’s PublicTechnology Live conference, Kamal Bal told attendees how the Ministry of Justice is working to improve services by better supporting both users and colleagues
How do you make sure that you treat vulnerable service users with sensitivity and support?
The Ministry of Justice’s digital chief explored this topic at this year’s PublicTechnology Live in London, organised by CSW’s parent company Total Politics.
Kamal Bal told attendees that the services developed by the ministry are informed by the experiences and needs of users – who often “come to interact with us [when] they’re in a position of absolute vulnerability”.
“They’re at a real moment of need,” he added. “That is a common thread that sits across everything we do, and it is key that when they’re interacting with us, they feel supported by the experience they’re interacting with, but they also have trust in it as well.”
To enable these supportive services, Bal said that development of digital and data platforms is underpinned by “four tenets”: human-centred design; data-driven decision making; cross-agency collaboration; and continuous improvement.
To support the tenet of human-centred design, the MoJ has a particular focus on delivering services in a trauma-informed way.
Bal told PublicTechnology Live that the trauma-informed approach “really drives a lot of what we do” across the MoJ’s different types of service user and the agencies that serve them – which includes HM Prison and Probation Service, HM Courts and Tribunals Service, the Legal Aid Agency, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority and the Office of the Public Guardian, which oversees the administration of the lasting power of attorney regime.
The MoJ digital chief said: “If you’ve been a victim of a violent crime, you’ve lived through the trauma of being a victim of that violent crime. You’ve then gone and reported it to the police and had to go through that journey again. Maybe you then get into a conversation with the Crown Prosecution Service and, again, you are presenting the same information. Then someone tells you about this compensation scheme, and you’re going through it again. We are just making people relive that trauma. But we are now consciously seeking to create experience to... avoid the need to do that. We put a lot of focus on user research, and we have a lot of people out and about in the field talking to people to understand: what is the outcome people are seeking?”
Supporting staff
Improving the outcomes for service users is often supported and amplified by making similar improvements for public service staff, according to Bal. Having spent much of his prior career in the consumer world – including stints at Marks and Spencer, Avon and Pizza Hut – the MoJ digital director arrived in government in 2023 with a track record of taking an “obsessive focus on the customer” and their experience.
“When multi-channel retailing came – and the ‘click and collect’ experience in particular at Marks and Spencer – that really highlighted to me that you can create a great customer experience by improving a colleague experience. You’d be amazed at how much work goes on behind the scenes at an M&S store, for example, to make it slick when a customer comes in. And that’s really influenced me because for a long time, I was very much [about] always focusing on the customer. Actually, you can focus on the customer – or the user, in our case – by focusing on your colleagues. The needs of both are really important.”
The MoJ has government’s largest workforce, with more than 100,000 such colleagues across the central ministry and its arm’s-length bodies. Bal cites the example of how digital can provide improvements for prison officers and other staff – and, by extension, help better support prisoners.
“We know, categorically, that if we want to create safe prison working environments, and if we want to help rehabilitate prisoners, it’s all about frontline officers being able to build relationships with them,” he said. “It’s all about being able to spend more time with people and less time on admin.”
For some years, this admin has been largely centred on the complex and unwieldy National Offender Management Information System. This legacy platform requires time-consuming inputs of information such as prisoners’ financial credits, disciplinary issues and alerts, and formal adjudications – data that staff cannot then see collated in one place.
“We’re seeking to transform that and we’ve created the Digital Prison Service… which is now rolling out,” Bal said. “All those key things that staff need to know are now there together in front of them, and that is saving hours a week… if someone is going to meet or have a conversation with [a prisoner], or if they need to try and decide something, all that information is front and centre, and is there for them.”
The digital chief added that, in delivering this service, there was also a “lovely undercurrent… of an intentional focus on replacing legacy” technology systems.
“I’ve been here two years and my quick observation is that there is no silver bullet to doing this, and there is no magical thing that means that in six months, you’re going to be able to go from legacy to something new,” he said. “You have to set an intentional course of action. My team set off on this journey about four years ago, and we’ve probably got about another two to three years to go to get this complete. But we’ve been resolute in our focus.”
--oo00oo--
The piece has already stimulated some caustic observations:-
******
Are you traumatised by the lack of support, jfdi culture, pisspoor pay, impossible workloads, useless unions? Then give Kamal a call.
No mention of Probation staff and our insecure offices plus over-stretched colleagues dealing with trauma every day. Many offenders are victims as well. No reference to domestic abuse and it's impact.
ReplyDeleteWhy would he say a “lovely undercurrent… of an intentional focus on replacing legacy” technology systems? An 'undercurrent' is a feeling of something that isn't said out aloud, for example, there's an undercurrent of feeling that Lord Timpsom and Mahmood don't give a shit about Probation or its staff. Shout it loud Kamal, our IT systems in Prison and Probation are both crap, make it an overcurrent!! So much faff in Probation is never got rid of or improved because there are hundreds of PO's who got out of the front line sideways or via promotions and needs unnecessary shit to put on spreadsheets, including perverse targets, to justify not being moved back into case management. Roll on my early retirement...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/blog/post-deployment-monitoring-of-ai/
DeleteThe ‘irony of the information age’ is that the companies collecting the largest amounts of data are the ones least monitored by regulators. Their AI technologies are based on oceans of data, but neither developers and deployers nor governments grasp AI’s waves impacting society.
its most definitely 'a fix'... just like tr was 'a fix'... & re-joining probation services was 'a fix'... and pay structures are 'a fix'... & programmes efficacy was 'a fix'... and DASH was 'a fix'...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002hqb7
Leila Nathoo investigates the risk assessment system for domestic abuse, and asks whether it is any longer fit for purpose.
The DASH form is the gateway for victims and survivors of domestic abuse - used by the police, charities and social workers to assess people who may be at risk of domestic abuse. It is deeply embedded in the whole system and plays a central role in deciding what further support victims receive. But Leila reveals troubling evidence that DASH too often incorrectly identifies those at the highest risk, meaning they do not get the support they need. And people across the system tell her that the form has not kept pace with the latest research about domestic abuse. Leila asks those who use the form, those who have studied its use, and those who developed it, what improvements need to be made, and why it has taken so long.
I struggled to listen to this programme. Why? Because it seems the emphasis & burden is placed upon the victim & those working with victims, while the abusive perpetrators (predominantly men) seem to be allowed to act with impunity. Yes, there are arrests; yes, there are convictions; yes, there are conditions & restrictions imposed BUT... men (99% of the time) continue to have financial & socio-economic power over their victims, they seem able to find legal loopholes, to find ways of breaking the law & causing harm with impunity, to kill their target regardless.
DeleteDASH & all similar forms of assessment seem to be predicated on the victims (99% women) making themselves safe as opposed to the system making them safe, as opposed to men (99% of the time) de-escalating their rage, anger, violence & fury.
Isn't this the wrong way round? Isn't this a parallel to everyone fitting Ring doorbells rather than people addressing their criminal behaviour? Fit more locks, install more cameras; as opposed to less criminal activity because the system has interventions that address criminal behaviours?
It's all got so complex. A cup of tea, a hug, quick check to see if the hugged was or was not a risk to themselves or others. Advocacy with mum/housing/fines office. Nudging towards drugs or alcohol treatment. None of theses are technological, just human and caring
ReplyDeleteI missed this back in April - apologies if it was already covered here - but at a time of considering pay, it seemed relevant:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/hmpps-launches-fasttrack-programme-for-future-prison-leaders
HMPPS is searching for 35 talented individuals from diverse backgrounds for the first intake of the new three-year Future Prison Leaders Programme.
For inner London prisons, the initial salary will be £47,263, rising to £66,180 in year three
For outer London prisons, a starting salary of £45,362 is on offer, rising to £64,188 in year three
For prisons in other locations, the salary will start at £41,712, rising to £60,364 in year three
Applicants will need a degree or Level 6 equivalent, or people management experience, and will need to be able to motivate staff and lead from the front, have great communication skills, to be analytical, make decisions and have the ability to think on their feet, the job advert says.
James Timpson, minister for prisons, probation and reducing reoffending, said: “This is a leadership role like no other and we’re looking for the best people to create the next generation of leaders to transform our prison system."
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/aug/27/prisoners-must-get-the-chance-to-rehabilitate-themselves-in-jail
ReplyDeleteAs a former prison governor, I welcome the revival of “time off for good behaviour”, familiar to us in the 1980s (Labour to abolish most short prison sentences in England and Wales, 24 August). But for it to succeed, prisoners must have the chance to show positivity and a will to change.
DeleteAt present, too many are locked in conditions that amount to solitary confinement, with illicit drugs as their main form of relief. Such a regime means that only those who are already motivated – or organised criminals running their empires from inside – can benefit. For the rest, the system offers little more than stagnation.
Worse still, a failing Prison Service is shifting the burden on to a demoralised probation workforce. The result is soaring recalls, now at the equivalent of eight new prisons – each costing around £400m.
Unless we create real opportunities for rehabilitation inside prisons, this reform risks being yet another sticking plaster on a system in long-term crisis.
John Podmore
Former governor, HMP Brixton and Belmarsh; prisons inspector and international consultant on prison corruption
John Podmore is right.
DeleteI feel uncomfortable too at the new proposals for tougher community sentences. Whilst I understand the concept of depriving those being punished in the community of the same access to social activities that those in prison are prevented from enjoying, I find it very stereotypical that it's the pub and the football that seems to be taking the headlines.
Are all people that might attract a community sentences for offending beer drinking football supporters? It strikes me me that two people who have committed the same offence and attracted the same sentence may be being punished very differently. One dosent drink and has no interest in football, whilst the other is a season ticket holder and enjoys spending a few evenings a week in the pub. It boils down to punishing the offence and not the individual who has commit the offence.
Another thing that bothers me is that if these proposals are implemented it really does cement probation officers as "community screws". It's not about rehabilitation anymore, it's about the enforcement of punishment. Maybe, that wonderful undercurrent of replacing legacy isn't about technology but about probation itself?
Everything is so ill thought through, the result of an MoJ brainstorming session by people who have no debt of understanding and no regard of the unintentional consequences that their ideas will inevitably bring.
As an aside regarding AI and technology. The economy is knackered, Reeves needs to find £billions, and the government are advancing AI at breakneck speed.
Should they be reminded that robots don't pay taxes or NI?
'Getafix
Now there's an idea 'Getafix - tax robots! You saw it here first....Oh, sadly not as the AI robot reminded me:-
Deletehttps://iuslaboris.com/insights/is-it-time-to-tax-the-robots/
Asked to consider the pros and cons of a tax on AI, ChatGPT offered the following comment:
Delete‘It’s important to note that implementing an AI tax raises several challenges. Determining what constitutes AI and how it should be taxed, ensuring fairness and avoiding unintended consequences, and striking a balance between encouraging innovation and addressing societal concerns are all complex considerations that need careful thought and analysis’.
South Korea is the only country that applies a robot tax, which has been in place since 2017. The Korean measure takes the form of a reduction in tax incentives for companies that use robots as part of their operations.
That same year, while the European Parliament voted for EU-wide legislation to regulate the development and ethical use of robots and artificial intelligence, it rejected the idea of introducing a robot tax to address some of the possible negative consequences for the job market.
Six years later, with the AI Act, the EU is about to introduce regulations that aim to ensure the human-centred and ethical development of artificial intelligence in Europe. The proposed measures do not include any kind of tax on robots.
In December last year, an MIT study found that a tax on robots set at between 1% and 3.7% of their value would help combat the effects of automation on income inequality in the United States. It is worth noting that this study did not consider the desirability of introducing a robot tax, but simply considered the question using a statistical approach.
The question of whether or not to tax robots around the world is a complex and multi-faceted issue requiring careful consideration. While there are cogent arguments on both sides, it is clear that taxing robots could have significant implications for society, the development and deployment of new technology, and the world of work.
From a legal point of view, implementing such a scheme would involve defining what robots and AI systems are for tax purposes, fixing criteria and tax rates, determining jurisdictional considerations, and ensuring compatibility with existing tax laws. It is likely that such a policy would inhibit innovation, at least to some extent, in pursuit of wider (and politically controversial) social goals. It would require a comprehensive approach that would need to be introduced gradually, most likely through regulations at the European level.
Interesting comment just sent in on earlier 'Ballot Result' blog post:-
ReplyDelete"97% of Napo members who voted definitively said ‘yes’ to action short of strike action, 90% for strike action itself in a ballot which closed on 22 August. Probation workers in the union which represents workers in the probation service and family courts are in dispute over pay and working conditions.
Despite a strong effort from Napo branches and activists, just under 45% of ballots were returned. Because Starmer’s Labour government has kept the Tories’ 2015 anti-union laws, Napo cannot take action despite a clear democratic mandate.
The ballot was launched following dispute over a truly horrendous workload situation, and over the fact that we have not yet received a formal pay offer.
The probation service is on its knees. Just one sector, sentence management, has been revealed to have less than half the staff it needs to meet its legal requirements. Meanwhile, the Rademaker Report showed the probation service is rife with bullying, harassment, and discrimination.
Thousands of probation workers, in Napo and in sister unions or no union, hoped this ballot could force some change from this government.
There will be lessons to be learned from the fact that turnout did not reach threshold, and Napo will need to recover quickly to ballot when it does receive a pay offer that will undoubtedly be inadequate.
This Labour government is getting away with acting just like the Tories. In most countries in Europe, the Napo members’ vote would be enough to strike. But, the Labour government has deliberately kept the Tories thresholds on the books, despite promises to scrap them in the general election. Labour is also continuing to drag probation workers into a bigger and deeper mess through brutal austerity.
The fight is on to use this overwhelming support for action to get over the government’s repressive hurdles next time around. Together with the industrial battle, we would be strengthened by a new party of the working class.
Napo members were among over 1,000 trade unionists to join the Trade Unionists For A New Party meeting on 21 July where Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn spoke shortly before launching ‘Your Party’.
Following this, several members have formed a Napo For A New Party group, with a follow-up meeting planned for 1 September at 6:30pm on Zoom. Members can join via the ‘TU4NewParty’ linktree at https://linktr.ee/TU4NewParty
The NAPO website still has no information regarding the outcome of the ballot.
ReplyDeleteNever again? Lessons have been learned? Have they shit...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0ml30vgykro
A Metropolitan Police special constable has been found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting a child.
James Bubb, who now identifies as a woman named Gwyn Samuels, groomed one of his two victims online before sexually assaulting her when she was just 12 years old.
The 27-year-old, from Chesham in Buckinghamshire, was also found guilty of raping a woman he met online while posing as a 16-year-old girl.
The court heard the officer raped the woman, who he met when she had just turned 18, while he was in an on-off relationship with her between January 2018 and February 2023.
She said the defendant would "use police training techniques" on her, telling police: "The control, the power he got. It sure as hell wasn't consensual."
Harrow School said Bubb was employed as a member of the school's support staff between 2018 and April 2024.
23 years working for probation.. I despair about how much the service has drifted away from the fundamental and very simple core objectives. Rather than moaning about this and the lacking support we all have, I'd much rather tap into the wealth of experience out there. Harnessing the experience, intelligence and ideas that are undoubtedly bouncing around like pinballs. The problem is how we get these ideas noticed.
ReplyDeleteStraight off the bat, we are clearly dealing with a punishment hungry/obsessed society. Despite the uncomfortable truth that we lock up more per capital than any other country in western Europe... We apparently need more prison space. (Asking other countries for prison space rather than asking ',how do you have prison space?' is nuts!..)..This could be starting point for a genuinely progressive conversation. However, it seems that our 'voice' is either not being expressed, or it's being ignored.
Here's my point, we know more about crime and how to tackle it than almost anyone. Why does no one ask us? Who speaks for us? Who expresses our collective expertise and insight? Someone should be yelling from the rooftops! NAPO aren't doing anything close to this .. is there anyone else who can?
"Who expresses our collective expertise and insight?"
DeleteThe only time anything is considered or anyone is listened to is when there's the prospect of a shitload of money to be made. The 'risk' industry is one example. Accredited programmes is another.
The idea that someone might actually *know* something, have a valid point or be able to offer valuable advice is uneconomic; if you can't monetise it, it ain't worth the time or effort.
Probation staff are not valued; in the eyes of the paymasters they're low rent keyboard slaves, unlike the "excellent leaders" who spout management-bollox, promote themselves & get rewarded for fuck all.
In our monkey-see-monkey-do world those who can replicate such self-aggrandising theatre are the ones who get noticed, get promoted & nothing changes because they're thick as mince & they maintain the status quo, while pocketing handsome salaries & bonuses, etc.
Why was probation training isolated & dumbed down? Because the turds that had risen to the top couldn't have a workforce that dared to question, challenge or be knowledgeable... that would put their own prospects at risk. Why were PSRs watered down to the thin gruel of computer-says? Because the dumbasses in senior positions hated them; they involved skills like reading, writing, comprehension, research, understanding...
Similar for most everything, including napo... its become a money pit, a huge wage bill (£792,258) & admin costs (£1,125,860) for a few poorly written online rants, a handful of half-arsed media appearances & deluded self-promotion... see post by Anonymous, 29 August 2025 at 16:25
This one:-
Delete"I recently cancelled my napo membership and I emailed first to tell them why. I got a very long and defensive email back from Ben Cockburn, several pages long, citing the numerous successes they have had in relation to pay, mainly around bonus schemes for Sds40 work (none of which I saw!) and overtime payments (none of which I got!). He claimed napo have “prevented HMPPS from shifting thousands of hours of work to coms”. He claimed the website works well and links to membership etc work (they didn’t, which is why I raised it) and that there is no disparity between com and Pom workloads. He said he disputed that there is no representation of napo in the media. He then gave me a deadline to contact him or my membership would be terminated. I was too outraged to reply."
Much of our current issues started with Labour and NOMS and history is just repeating itself with the Labour Party again relegating Probation to the sidelines and doing as much as it can for the Prisons eg regular decent payrises, bonuses, geographical supplements, massive investment while Probation gets paid in lipstick. Coupled with this is that they put Michael Spurr in charge of NOMS, a man who wasn't shy in letting people know he though Probation Officers were a waste of time and who I think, if memory serves wanted our training to be reduced to a matter of months like Prison Staff. They even got him on board for the current review ffs! Labour just doesn't give a crap about Probation and people need to understand this, so many staff I know thought once they were elected in we'd be treated with respect, listened to and our Ts & Cs would improve, deluded. The only thing that 'might' lead to change will be if a steady number of SFOs start appearing in the media over the next 6 months with the next batch of early releases which just makes me sad...
DeleteI completely agree that money is the ruling force. In that sense, isn't it odd that punishment is preferred over rehabilitation? We all know that punishment (prison) costs shed loads compared to community sentences. Paired with the amount of research showing that punishment does not 'work' in terms of the desired outcome of reducing crime. Beyond simply containing risk (usually temporarily), I can't see any benefits.
ReplyDeleteTo continue this trend and increase capacity will cost an absolute fortune and achieve very little. I think this is the conversation that we should push:
'we can save money and give something that works'.
I realise the huge shift in the current culture and appetite for punishment that will be needed for this to get any traction, but that isn't a reason to not at least try.
At the moment it feels like probation is muted, becoming deskilled and ignored. The sense that probation is a open receptacle in which to to dump the problems of the prison crisis is pretty depressing. Where 'we' even consulted about sds40, impact etc?
There is a massive elephant in the room and no one is pointing at it. So yes, money rules, but research shows that there is absolutely no need to spend more on stuff that doesn't work.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DNOOxO8vevb/
Delete"Big firms are raking in huge profits from taxpayer-funded asylum accommodation. That money belongs to the public, yet it’s sitting in corporate pockets, fuelling even more profits."
Hopefully this instagram link works & it shows in explicit terms how the corporate raids on taxpayer funds operate, with impunity, without shame & with govt blessing. In this case its Home Office contracts re- accommodation provision for asylum seekers.
Hmmm, we know someone who is the perm sec at the Home Office, don't we? Someone with form for gifting vast sums of public money to corporate multinationals when they were at moj...
My dear old thing, Crime & Punishment is a £multibillion multinational industry. Punitive measures make £billions for G4S, Serco, Sodexo, Capita etc - and their shareholders, of course. Why would they kill the golden goose?
ReplyDeleteProbation has been slowly disappearing ever since the political class finally got their grubby, sticky mitts on probation. They've done all in their power to disassemble & discredit it so they can invest public money in their chums' technology & real estate businesses (tags & prisons). Its a capitalist's wet dream. But it goes back way before grayling or straw:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2007/may/02/crime.penal
"1970s and 80s: Partnerships with other agencies result in cautioning schemes, alternatives to custody and crime reduction, while changes in sentencing result in day centres, special programme conditions, the probation order as a sentence, and risk of custody and risk of reconviction assessment tools."
CJA1948:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/11-12/58/part/I/crossheading/probation-and-discharge/enacted
"Where a court by or before which a person is convicted of an offence (not being an offence the sentence for which is fixed by law) is of opinion that having regard to the circumstances, including the nature of the offence and the character of the offender, it is expedient to do so, ***the court may, instead of sentencing him, make a probation order, that is to say, an order requiring him to be under the supervision of a probation officer for a period to be specified in the order of not less than one year nor more than three years.***"
CJA1991
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1991/53/section/6/1992-10-01
"A court shall not pass on an offender a community sentence, that is to say, a sentence which consists of or includes one or more community orders, unless it is of the opinion that the offence, or the combination of the offence and one other offence associated with it, was serious enough to warrant such a sentence."
https://insidetime.org/newsround/a-short-history-of-the-probation-service/
"... ‘advise’, ‘assist’ and ‘befriend’, which to many in the current climate of the Probation Service is viewed as a profanity, continued to ring down the decades until it was dispensed with in favour of ‘public protection’, ‘enforcement’ and ‘rehabilitation’ in the late 1990s when probation officers willingly signed up to the forces of conservatism."
And that massive elephant? Its made out of pound notes - taxpayer cash - which we'll never see again after its been shipped offshore.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/ipp-sentence-martin-jones-probation-b2792229.html
ReplyDeletewell spotted!
Delete"The probation watchdog chief for England and Wales has urged Sir Keir Starmer to finally put an end to the scandal of indefinite jail terms, warning prisoners are “trapped in the system”.
Martin Jones called for ministers to look carefully at fresh proposals to help almost 2,500 prisoners still behind bars under now-outlawed imprisonment of public protection (IPP) jail terms.
The chief inspector of probation, who previously led the Parole Board for nine years, told The Independent: “I genuinely think that IPP prisoners continue to be failed by the system as a whole.”
The jail term, described as “psychological torture” by the UN, was scrapped in 2012, but not retrospectively, leaving those already jailed incarcerated indefinitely.
In a rare interview, Mr Jones said new measures put forward last month by the Howard League for Penal Reform and former lord chief justice John Thomas have “real merit”, provided there are sufficient safeguards for the small minority whose original offence may have warranted a life sentence.
Their recommendations include giving IPP prisoners a release date within two years of their next parole review, reducing the numbers recalled to custody for breaching licence conditions, and a package of mental health support on release."
Napo stated " louder message to the employer. In the meantime, Napo is keeping the pressure firmly on HMPPS and Government." Tell us please Napo what louder message can the employer receive seriously than a failed ballot. Also tell us what exactly can you mean by firm pressure. Napo we know you speak nonsense. However share the letters claims and evidence of this so called pressure. Convince us you really are able in any respects or just more of the rhetoric crap your response to the ballot is.
ReplyDeletehttps://colindellis.medium.com/5-phrases-emotionally-intelligent-leaders-consistently-use-5767f04a4ed0
ReplyDeleteEnglish author CS Lewis once said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”
5 Phrases Emotionally Intelligent Leaders Consistently Use
Delete1. I’m Sorry
English author CS Lewis once said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” The ability to say sorry and apologise for something that’s gone wrong is still seen as a sign of weakness, when the reality is, it’s a sign of your humanity. And… people want to see it!
This refusal to express remorse for something is still one of the biggest leadership flaws that I see in the business world. As human beings, there is simply no way for any of us to be correct about everything all of the time. Indeed, it would be strange if we never made a mistake.
Not saying sorry also indirectly sets the tone for the rest of the team to do likewise and will eventually lead to finger-pointing, blame and, in some instances, a complete lack of honesty.
Emotionally intelligent leaders understand the need for humility and recognise its importance in building team safety.
I’ll leave the final words here to Brené Brown who said, “We pretend that what we’re doing doesn’t have an impact on other people. Just be real and say that you’re sorry.”
2. I’m Listening
We are the most distracted generations of people ever and the result of us allowing our attention to wander is that we will gradually lose the crucial art of listening.
In their groundbreaking research on listening in the 1970s, Carver, Johnson and Friedman found that most people speak at 125 wpm but that the human mind is capable of processing at least 400 wpm. Meaning it’s not that humans don’t have the capacity to listen effectively, it’s just that, well, they don’t want to. Especially when they can distract themselves with email, notifications and social media feeds.
In order to improve your listening skills, you could employ Active Empathetic Listening (Drollinger et al):
Sense — what is someone saying? How are they saying it? What body language is on display?
Process — how does what they’re saying and how they’re saying it chime with what you know of them or of the situation?
Respond — only when the other person has finished speaking should you respond and you should acknowledge what they’ve said when you do so. Remember that sometimes no response is necessary — people just want to get things off their chest and are not looking for you to resolve anything!
3. Yes, and
DeleteOne of the biggest motivation and creativity killers (along with extroverts telling you to be positive!) is the word ‘but’. Now of course, those that like to use it will defend it as a linking word or say that it’s a way of challenging your thinking, however, I disagree with that. In my experience it acts as a brick wall, signalling that someone is wrong or that their idea is unsound. Even worse when someone interrupts you with 10 consecutive ‘buts’… that’s the worst! ‘But, but, but, but…’.
As someone who has studied the world of improvisation — where the ‘yes, and’ technique is practised regularly — I know that it is a way of not only acknowledging what’s been said, but also providing the opportunity for collaboration with others. It’s a way of saying ‘I hear you and here’s my contribution to the discussion’.
Of course I’m not suggesting that the word ‘but’ should be eradicated from your vocabulary! I just think that by not starting a sentence defensively, constructive discussion becomes easier to do. Removing the ‘but’ turns a potential rejection into an active conversation and leads to better outcomes and improved psychological safety.
4. I trust you
Assumed trust is one of the key elements found in vibrant workplace cultures. In these teams, trust doesn’t have to be earned over a period of time, nor are you permanently on notice for the decisions that you make.
Leaders in vibrant cultures recognise that in order to create an environment where people can bring their best selves to work, they need to set expectations well, provide space for discussion, then let people use their judgement and expertise to make decisions and get their job done.
Nobody can get their job right 100% of the time, however, as long as they have a growth mindset, work well with others and don’t continually make the same mistakes, then there should be no reason why leaders can’t place their complete trust in them. When this happens leaders won’t have to constantly remind people of the fact that they’re empowered and that’s a win for everyone!
5. Thank You
A manager once told me that a little gratitude goes a long way and it’s something that immediately stuck with me. Often people can get so caught up in a task that they forget to say the words that recognise the effort that went into it — thank you, merci, gracias, danke, dank u, grazie, dōmo arigatō, kamsahamnida, obrigada, dhanyawādāh or dankie — or whatever it may be in your language!
There isn’t a human being on the planet that doesn’t want to be shown gratitude for the work that they do and the science shows that when it’s consistent, it has a positive long-lasting effect on the brain and the way that people interact with each other.
Ways you can show gratitude include:
Verbal. Simply look them in the eye and say thank you. How hard can that be?! If it’s in a group situation, take care you don’t embarrass them. Whole Foods in the US has an ‘Appreciations’ agenda item in meetings to reinforce the importance of gratitude.
Email. Send an email to the team calling out the work of one or more individuals, taking care not to alienate others.
Card. Write a brief thank you card and leave/send it to the individual(s) in question.
Coffee/lunch. Consider this an extension of the verbal thank you, but also a ‘reward’, to be paid for out of your own pocket, to show your appreciation.
Something more personal. Once you get to know your team members you can buy them a gift you know they’ll like.
In his excellent book Emotional Capitalists, author Martyn Newman says, “Leaders who treat people in a way that supports their self-confidence make it possible for people to achieve things they initially thought impossible”. By using these phrases you not only consistently show the good human that lives inside you, but also create the conditions for this good humanity to spread.
Excerpt from the publication "Inc", an American business magazine focusing on growing companies, startups, and entrepreneurship:
Delete"A framework to avoid freezing others in time
If you notice you have negative feelings towards another, ask the following questions:
1. Is my view of this person severely hampered by something from the past?
2. How do other responsible people, especially those who are unaware of negative past events, see this person?
3. Am I able to recognize the good this person has done, is doing, or has the potential to do in the future?
The idea here, is not to simply dismiss repeated mistakes or negative patterns of behavior. Rather, you want to make sure you’re balancing your emotions with rational judgment, so as to get a more accurate picture.
So, the next time you feel a rush of negativity when dealing with someone at work, remind yourself:
Don’t freeze them in time.
Because there’s no time like the present to make a fresh start. Look for something positive about the other person, then share it with them."
Hmm, perhaps someone should get The Cobbler a subscription?
I'm trying to resist pessimism. Looking at other countries in western Europe gives me some hope. I understand that crime and punishment is £multibillion and multinational industry.
ReplyDeleteHow have countries such as Germany, Italy, Norway, The Netherlands, and Denmark seemingly resisted these forces as shown in their significantly lower prisoners per-capita stats? Eg: in 2023 Germany had 69 per 100,000 people in prison, England Wales had 136.
It would be interesting to explore this.
Annon@11:33.
DeleteI think the question you raise would be a good foundation to base a PhD on. It's certainly a question that interests me, but I fear there are far too many contributory factors to be able to arrive at a definitive answer.
Personally, I worry about the unleashing of technology and artificial intelligence as a fix on a criminal justice system that's been broken by ideology. Eating soup with a fork springs to mind!
The following articles may be of interest to you however. It explores the growth of the prison population in a broader socio/economic/political context then the normal one dimensional finger pointing you tend to get from whatever your choosen media outlet wants you to think.
I found it a good read and thought provoking anyway.
https://medium.com/@richardgarside/prisons-and-politics-4c397f72f05a
'Getafix
Perhaps their probation service is professional and not full of right wing kids who want to lock everyone up ?
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