This dissertation focuses on the practice and culture of probation workers in two offender management units in England. The PhD asks how broad theories of penal transformation have impacted on probation practice and practice ideals by looking at what probation workers say they are trying to achieve in their work, and how they go about this. I ask what, if any, resistance exists amongst workers to policies that appear to be in tension with the ‘advise, assist and befriend’ ethos of the Probation Service and examine the impact of managerialism on practice. The dissertation emanates from a disjunction between Garland’s (2001a) thesis of a ‘culture of control’ and traditional notions of probation culture, and investigates this with reference to four key themes: rehabilitation, punishment, risk management, and managerialism. The opening two chapters explore the concept of late-modernity and discuss other research on probation's values and practice ideals. I describe and critique Garland’s thesis, suggesting that probation practice is the product of new policies and politics interacting with ‘traditional’ methods of practice. I discuss probation workers’ values to explore, on a theoretical level, how they have changed during recent years. The empirical chapters use data collected through a combination of observations and interviews in two probation teams in England. These chapters contrast pervasive managerialism with probation workers’ preferred ways of measuring ‘success’, arguing that there is a need to incorporate the offender into the system. I examine the preparation of pre-sentence reports and the supervision process to explore probation workers’ attitudes to punishment and rehabilitation, respectively. Accountability has shifted considerably in recent years and the impact of managerialism raises several issues in regard to the way in which probation workers are held to account. Finally, I explore the impact of managerialism by looking at the exercise of discretion and the recent shift towards compliance, away from enforcement. In the concluding chapter I present the main findings of this research on probation practice. Following an overview of the main findings, this chapter describes the changes that have taken place since the fieldwork, and shows how the research presents a picture of how probation culture has, and has not, changed in the context of Garland’s culture of control. Ultimately, this research is invaluable for Probation Trusts and academics in terms of thinking about how practitioners might react to yet more change and I outline the implications of the research findings for the Government’s current proposals to reform community sentences and probation.

This thesis explores probation practitioners’ views regarding changes to practice in light of the implementation of a new model of practice, namely the SEEDS (Skills for Effective Engagement, Development and Supervision) model. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 15 female and 5 male practitioners from one Probation Trust in the south east of the UK. The sample was made up of probation service officers, probation officers and one senior probation officer. The research focused on practitioners’ experiences and views regarding the implementation of SEEDS and the impact this has had on their day to day practice. It also looked at the process of organisational change more widely. The results suggest that the introduction of SEEDS has not thus far resulted in its stated aim of achieving a stock change in probation culture. In order to explain why that is, the three themes of ‘Identity’, ‘Autonomy’ and ‘Accountability’ were explored. In addition, a divide was apparent in the views of respondents and this could be understood in terms of experienced versus less experienced respondents. Whilst the less experienced respondents were welcoming of SEEDS as a resource that offers guidance and reassurance about practice, the more experienced respondents were less embracing. They viewed SEEDS as essentially repackaging the skills they already have in one to one work with offenders. Understanding how changes are received at the coalface has important implications for managers and policymakers when trying to affect significant change in the culture of an organisation. The conclusion that the workforce is divided based on practitioners years’ of experience suggests that different strategies need to be adopted for both groups when trying to implement new models of practice.

The present thesis evaluates the international legal standing of the right to a remedy and reparation contained in the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of Human Rights and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law. It focuses on two aspects of the right to a remedy and reparation. First, it examines the application of state responsibility principles to the relationship between states and individuals when human rights and international humanitarian law violations are committed. Secondly, it analyses the convergence of norms of state liability in different branches of international law: human rights law, the law on diplomatic protection, international humanitarian law, and international criminal law. It advances the proposition that state responsibility for reparation in favour of individuals has crystallised in international law. The thesis is divided in four chapters. The first is an introductory chapter. It defines the scope and objective of the study, and identifies and maps the existing scholarly positions on the right to a remedy and reparation for individuals under international law. Chapter 2 describes the law of state responsibility for injuries to aliens and its relationship to the right to reparation in human rights law. Chapter 3 explores the right to reparation for international humanitarian law violations. As a conclusion, Chapter 4 assesses whether the Principles and Guidelines reflect the standards of international law previously analysed. It looks at whether principles of state responsibility can apply to the relationship between individuals and states – a basic presumption of this instrument that was also one of the main sources of contention during the drafting and adoption process at the UN. It concludes that individuals can invoke state responsibility directly under contemporary international law through an actionable right to reparation for serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law that constitute international wrongful acts.

This thesis is a qualitative examination of the meanings, messages and experiences of those using and receiving on the spot penalties across a range of contexts in which such penalties arise. It explores the policy framework in which communications and expectations about “effective” criminal justice clash with everyday experiences of citizens receiving on the spot penalties. The thesis examines how these penalties have been allowed to increase so dramatically that they are now the main means through which justice is experienced when a citizen engages in problematic / deviant behaviour. This growth in reliance on the on the spot penalty arises from the need to provide an “effective” justice system, one that provides an effective deterrent and takes a zerotolerance approach to offending, but, at the same time, seeks a proportional response to that offending. This thesis argues that this proportionality is not experienced by citizens who receive these notices, who argue that the penalty notice interaction lacks an essential element of procedural justice, the ability to engage in a ‘rational and reciprocal’ (Duff, 2001:79) communication. Inadequate opportunities for citizens to “voice” their concerns within the system leads to claims that enforcement agencies lack “common-sense”, are illegitimate and untrustworthy. This thesis argues that citizens then lose respect for enforcement agencies, and the laws they enforce through the on the spot penalty. Such citizens find that being motivated to comply with the law is not a good indicator of actually complying with it. When punished whilst holding a positive motivation about the law, citizens can become deeply frustrated and angry about the treatment they receive. This thesis concludes that policymakers need to decide whether a ‘simple, speedy and summary’ (DCA, 2006) on the spot penalty can be achieved without significant damage to the legitimacy of the justice system.

This exploratory, psycho-social study examined young people’s reflections on their experiences of engaging with a youth offending service (YOS). There is a paucity of research that explores this. Five participants were recruited from a YOS in the UK. Free association techniques were used; five participants were interviewed using the Grid Elaboration Method, four were interviewed again using the Free-Association Narrative Interview. Interview transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis, a psycho-social lens was then applied and ‘scenic understandings’ composed for each participant. The thematic analysis illuminated four themes: transformative relationship with YOT worker: identity transformation: engaging: then’s presence in now. Themes and ‘scenic understandings’ were drawn upon in discussion of links to literature, navigated as: trust in relationships; past and present, developing an identity distanced from a past self, engagement in personalised intervention, the function and structure of YOS, YOS engagement; a window of opportunity, developing a psycho-social understanding of what participants talked about. Strengths of the study lie in the psycho-social approach and free association method of data collection, enabling rich descriptions and interpretations that considered the interrelatedness of psychological and social experiences. Potential implications for practice were highlighted; 1. consideration of what participants talked about by professionals working in YOS and with similar populations, 2. consideration of the development of the EP role, such as providing supervisory support to reflect on the psycho-social needs of young people engaging with YOS, 3. maintenance and development of the focus of YOS procedures such as emphasising the importance of building meaningful relationships and providing structure for young people engaging with YOS. Recommendations for future research are; 1. undertaking similar studies with young people having difficulty with engagement, 2. investigating both young people’s and their YOT worker’s experiences of working together to develop understanding of the intersubjective nature of the engagement process.

This thesis examines two research questions: firstly, how does community punishment impact upon the lives of those subjected to it; and secondly, to what extent is that impact affected by the relationship between the offender and her Probation Service supervisor? It considers these questions in both conceptual and empirical terms by outlining, and then deploying, the analytical framework of penal impact, an approach to penal severity that uses pain as a metric by which to judge the suitability of punitive interventions. By evaluating sentence severity in terms of penal impact, one can examine both the types of pain that follow from a particular sentence, as well as their relative magnitude, building up a qualitative comparison of different impositions of community punishment. However, because pain is an inherently subjective concept, the evaluation of penal impact requires empirical data. This study therefore explores the findings of interviews with nine offenders and 11 supervision officers within a single Probation Trust. The data drawn from these interviews indicate a broad range of pains that vary considerably in their intensity and incidence from offender to offender. The study explores the question of the extent to which these pains can be associated with the formal process of punishment, the extent to which they can be considered punitive in a retributive sense, and the means by which such pains can be compared between subjective experiences. It concludes that the penal impact of community punishment in England and Wales is considerable, and goes substantially beyond the relatively ‘soft’ image suggested by a narrow, liberty-based conception of sentence severity. The process of supervision has a substantial effect upon the pains felt – and therefore, upon the sentence’s overall impact. The implications of these conclusions for sentencing policy in England and Wales are discussed, and avenues of further research are identified.

Retributive attitudes are deeply held and widespread in the general population and most legal systems incorporate retributive elements. It is probably also the dominant theory of punishment among contemporary philosophers of criminal justice. However, retributivism relies on conceptions of free will and responsibility that have, for millennia, fundamentally divided those who have thought seriously about the subject. Our legal system upholds the principle that the responsibility of the offender has to be proven beyond reasonable doubt, before the accused can be punished. In view of the intractable doubts surrounding the soundness of retributivism’s very conception of responsibility, my thesis argues that it is ethically dubious to punish individuals for solely retributive reasons. Instead, my thesis proposes that a person should only be punished if the main theories of punishment agree that punishing that person is appropriate – I call this ‘the convergence requirement’. This approach, I argue, is in accordance with the considerations underlying the beyond reasonable doubt standard. In addition to considering the question of ‘whom to punish’ my thesis considers what methods of responding to criminal behaviour are acceptable. In particular, it attempts to explain, without appealing to the contested notions of free will or retributive desert, what is problematic about ‘manipulative’ methods of dealing with criminal offenders (focussing in particular on the possibility of modifying their behaviour through neurological interventions). The final part of this thesis also gives an overview of some of the practical implications for Scots criminal law of taking doubts about free will and retributivism seriously. Given the severe treatment that offenders undergo within the Scottish penal system (e.g. deprivation of liberty, stigma) and the high rate of recidivism, it is important to consider whether our current penal practices are justified, what alternatives are available and what goals and values should guide attempts at reforming the system.

Why do people support the harsh punishment of criminal offenders? This dissertation starts from the premise that views about punishment go far beyond concerns about crime and security. Punishment is a central component of the social order and a means by which social order is produced. It follows that ideological preferences will be crucial in understanding people’s punitive reactions. People who have a preference for collective security might support punishment to restore order and cohesion. Yet, by committing crime, offenders also seem to gain power in society and punishment can restore the status quo. Punishment might therefore have positive value for people motivated to achieve social order (people high in right-wing authoritarianism, RWA) as well as for people motivated to achieve power and dominance (people high in social dominance orientation, SDO). In this dissertation I build on criminological and socialpsychological research to propose a dual-motivational model of punitive attitudes. I examine whether the effects of RWA and SDO are mediated by different beliefs about crime and symbolic motives of punishment (Paper 1) and whether they predict different retributive goals of punishment (Paper 2). Finally, I explore the circumstances under which RWA and SDO predict punitive attitudes (Papers 3 and 4). The four papers presented in this dissertation suggest that there are, indeed, two ideological antecedents to punitive attitudes. High RWA individuals favoured harsh punishment to restore collective security, maintain hierarchies and avoid powerful criminals disrupting social order. High SDO’s did so to establish and maintain power and status hierarchies in society. However, the effect of SDO was limited to situations where crime was associated with a competitive situation. Punitiveness seems to be related to a groupbased competition for status and power with criminal offenders. Yet, high SDO individuals are not predisposed to think of criminal offenders as threats to hierarchies.

This thesis provides an empirical, qualitative, study of nuances of the labour process in the context of Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) and how detectable indications of alienation may be present in the perceptions of front-line practitioners. The study also focuses on government policy and the views of management and trade union officials to gain a broader understanding of factors that affect employment in this sub-sector of the public services. To provide a rich source of qualitative data, 33 interviews were conducted across two research sites, which fall under the operational remit of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (YJB). Initially, the focus of the thesis is structured around political impositions and management regulation of the employment relationship in the wider public services with particular reference to its impact on the organisation of work and work degradation. This is set against previous theories and frameworks of alienation to form an analytical model, adapted from Blauner’s (1964) research, accounting for criticisms of the study from a Marxist perspective. The thesis then provides a contextual grounding of the politicised nature of the youth justice sector and the related criminological debates which affect the perceptions of work and policy from front-line practitioners in YOTs. Interview data is analysed against the theoretical model employed, signified by a broad analytical approach, which not only addresses the effects of a loss of practitioner control of the labour process in YOTs and the related indications of alienation, but also investigates their relevance to wider aspects of the political economy. Findings suggest that alienation is intensified in practitioners when they experience a dislocation between their personal ideals and the prescriptive work practices to which they abide, with their skills and knowledge of front-line practice perceived as undervalued in state and management policy.

This dissertation offers an analysis of the dimensions of exile and considers how they are reflected in cultural products that emerge in the Iranian context. Exile has generally been understood to mean enforced displacement from a homeland. As a result, the cultural products of exile, for the most part, focus on the dimensions of exile in its physical, expatriated sense: what I refer to as external exile. Exile, however, is a complex phenomenon and it has a variety of dimensions. Exploring, analysing and exposing varieties of exile and exilic identities are important. Because, in the Iranian context, exile and the cultural products generated in exilic conditions play a key role in socio-political make ups of the country. The cultural products of exile, for the most part, aim to expose and through it resist oppression. Studying the dimensions of exile reflected in the selected cultural products show that even though the narratives of exile set out to resist enforced displacement they can instead perpetuate exile. This dissertation looks at three various dimensions of exile: external, internal and intrinsic exile. It begins by considering the cultural products of external exile, using Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi and The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. It suggests that the understanding of exile is too simplistic and proposes two other ways in which exile can be understood. The first of these is internal exile, which is the exilic condition of people still inside their homeland, using Ahmad Shamlou’s poetry and a film by Granaz Moussavi, My Tehran For Sale. The second is intrinsic exile, which is an exilic condition of people wherever they reside. The selected cultural products for understanding intrinsic exile are Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat and Azadeh Kanom and Her Writer or Dr. Sharifie’s Private Auschwitz, by Reza Baraheni.