Juvenile Offending is widely believed to be on the increase judging by the growing number of convictions of young offenders in Gauteng Province. Policy and legislation has been renewed to uphold the rights of the child and to provide more humane intervention plans for children in conflict with the law. Appropriate sentencing of young people in conflict with the law remains a significant challenge in the South African Criminal Justice System. The Probation Services Act (Act 116 of 1991) provides for the appointment of probation officers who are responsible for screening, assessing and referring persons awaiting trial. After young offenders are convicted of a crime, a probation officer is required to conduct a pre-sentence investigation and write a pre-sentence report to assist the Magistrates and Judges in making appropriate sentencing decisions. This study aims to assess the usefulness of probation officers / pre-sentence reports in sentencing decisions concerning young offenders in the Criminal Justice System. Probation services are overloaded and understaffed and many social workers have not had adequate training in working in this field. These factors may compromise the quality of the pre-sentence investigation and the consideration of sentencing options. The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of probation officers’ reports in sentencing young offenders in the Criminal Justice System. A representative sample of fifteen magistrates from Johannesburg Courts and the surrounding areas including a judge from the High Court was used for this study. The findings indicated that all the respondents were involved and experienced in sentencing young offenders. ii From the findings of the study, it can be concluded that most of the respondents found the probation officer’s reports useful in terms of the purpose of the pre-sentence investigations, understanding the young offender in his / her family, community and socio-economic and cultural context; the criminal history and profile of the young offender; the probation officer’s evaluation and assessment; and the consideration of appropriate sentencing options. With regard to suggestions to improve the probation officers’ reports the following was suggested by some of the respondents: - - Reports should be compiled and presented to court in time. - A workshop involving probation officers, prosecutors, magistrates and other service providers for young offenders needs to be done. - Probation officers should communicate with the prosecutors so that they get knowledge of the court proceedings regarding the trial. - Probation officers should look at the docket that carries the information regarding the young offender. - If a young offender is detained in a detention centre, probation officers should visit them frequently in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the programs they are exposed to, for sentencing purposes. The research design was qualitative in nature and an interview schedule was completed for the purpose of data collection. iii The results of this study indicated that the probation officer’s report is useful. The majority of the respondents stated that the probation officer’s report met their expectations. However, not all of them had suggestions regarding guidelines to improve pre-sentence reports, as the existing one covers all the necessary aspects. / Prof. L. Patel

For many year, correctional theory has shown the need for a greater variety of treatment programs to combat the problem of delinquency. It has been mainly administrative problems, stemming from a lack of public support, that has resulted in the extensive gap between theory and practice. There have been several attempts to introduce new programs, but there are still many wide gaps in the total range of services that are needed. In adapting the principles of Outward Bound to a Correctional Program, the B.C. Corrections Branch has taken an imaginative and radical step towards filling part of the gap. Their Search and Leadership Training program (S.A.L.T.) is an injection of new ideas into an established field of practice rather than a progressional development within the field. However, there is virtually no theoretical or scientific evaluation of the principles or methods of Outward Bound available. In this study of the 1966 Search and Leadership Training courses for boys on probation, an attempt has been made to identify the basic theoretical assumptions on which the program rests. These assumptions have been related to current social science theory in order to show what concepts can eventually be tested by evaluation of the program. The main focus of this study has been at the pre-evaluative level. The research team has concentrated on developing instruments for the effective collection of data. These instruments, particularly the one developed to extract information from the pre-sentence report, are generic in scope and can be used to evaluate a variety of programs or the effectiveness of the pre-sentence report itself. The information collected on the twenty-four boys who took the two S.A.L.T. courses in 1966 has been tabulated to show the amount and the consistency of the data available. Perusal of this information gives a concise picture of that data and suggestions have been made as to what areas of information should be solicited to ensure future evaluative studies have adequate material to analyze. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This study seeks to explore ways in which the emotional content of probation intervention with offenders is central to practitioner/offender relationships, but constitutes a discourse that has been largely silenced within an organisation that favours a business orientated model. Questions addressed within this thesis relate to how practitioners understand, regulate and work with emotion; how the organisational 'silence' on the subject is maintained and reinforced; the costs of this silencing and how practitioners endeavour to surmount it in their daily working practices. The term 'emotional literacy' (Killick 2006) captures the phenomenon of 'emotion work' or the 'soft skills' that many practitioners use in pursuit of the 'hard work' of assessing, managing and enabling change in offenders. It is a qualitative study which has used a thematic analysis to explore the concept of emotional literacy in probation practice. The study is informed by a theoretically eclectic approach and uses Layder's theories of social domain (Layder 2006), and of interpersonal control (Layder 2004), as frameworks for analysis. Findings from the research demonstrate that the practice of emotional literacy is significantly affected by organisational and contextual constraints. The tensions inherent for practitioners in holding emotionally conflicting and ambivalent positions in their practice with offenders are illustrated. There is evidence that practitioners predominantly exercise interpersonal emotional control through benign means. However, some concerns were highlighted by respondents of the risk of more collusive, manipulative or even repressive means of interpersonal control being deployed. It is argued that in the absence of training and support in the area of emotions and emotion management, most of this 'underground' emotional work is subjective, idiosyncratic, undervalued and largely unnoticed by the organisation. It is further argued, that the silencing of the discourse imposes a burden on workers, providing them with few opportunities to explore the implications of their emotions in practice, and limiting the effectiveness of the organisation in enabling offenders to change. The research also reveals some gender implications. An argument is developed for the explicit building of emotional resources within the organisation to sustain the development, enhancement and support of emotional literacy in the workforce, and for an increased profile to be afforded these 'soft skills' in policy debates.

The 3-year rate of recidivism in the United States is around 43%, costing taxpayers millions of dollars every year. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between criminal thinking styles and self-reported recidivism, which included crimes committed that were not reported to authorities. According to Ellis' Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy theory, behavior is a direct result of cognitive activity. The research question asked what relationship existed between criminal thinking styles and recidivism for post-release non-violent offenders on probation. Using the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles, this study used a non-experimental survey approach, correlating scores from this measure with self-reported number of crimes from a sample of males and females ranging in age from18-65 years old (n = 9). Although responses to the recidivism question were obtained, the sample size was insufficient to show a significant relationship between these variables (rs = .45). This effect size suggests that further research could be carried out to determine if, with a larger sample size, a significant relationship might be found. It is important for the criminal justice system and forensic mental health services to gain a better understanding of the relationship between criminal thinking styles and recidivism. This study has revealed that self-report of crimes committed can be collected, enabling greater knowledge of offenders' maladaptive behaviors so that those working in the field to help those offenders to reenter society can do so more efficiently, therefore, reducing recidivism.

The prevalent rates of sexual crimes against children in South Africa require forensic social work as a specialised field to assist the criminal justice system to respond effectively to victims' essential needs. This need has led to the employment of social workers in forensic units in the South African Police Services (SAPS) as an investigative aid under detective services to enhance service delivery in forensic practices. The initiative materialised through previous collaboration between the National Department of Social Development (DSD), tertiary institutions and the South African Council of Social Service Professions (SACSSP), to deliberate on strategies to curb the alarming rates of crime, violence and other related social problems in South Africa. Instituting specialised forensic practice was the outcome and it provided context of this study. This study explored social workers' experiences of forensic practice with victims of child sexual abuse in the City of Cape Town. Forensic social work is an emerging field of practice that requires tertiary training for social workers who want to practice forensic social work to acquire specialised knowledge and skills to practice competently. The study objectives involved; ● To explore the challenges faced by social workers providing forensic services to victims of child sexual abuse. ● To discover concerns involved in generalist social workers providing forensic services to victims of child sexual abuse. ● To describe the social workers' decision making in their intervention in providing forensic social work services. ● To explore the levels of knowledge and skills of social workers in forensic practice with sexual abuse cases. The study adopted a qualitative research approach where data was collected using a semistructured interview schedule. The non-probability purposive sampling approach was implemented based on the researcher's judgement of the role players relevant to this study. The sample interviewed for this study comprised of twenty social workers handling child sexual abuse cases from government departments and non-governmental organisations in the City of Cape Town to explore their experiences in handling child sexual abuse victims. The data was analysed using Tesch's (1990) eight steps of data analysis. The findings revealed that collaborative partnerships are at the core of the criminal justice system and networking with relevant role-players and stakeholders allow the handling of these complex cases effectively. However, with the challenging nature and risk involved in forensic social work practice, social workers' attrition rates were high in a field already suffering from the scarcity of human resources. Social workers in forensic practice experience various challenges with child victims, the justice system and collaborations with other role-players. All these challenges are seen as contributing factors to the delay of cases and low conviction rates of sexual offences in South Africa. There is a need therefore to improve collaborations among role players handling child sexual abuse cases for effective service delivery.

As a criminal sanction, community service involves unpaid labor on the part of convicted criminal offenders. Community service was created as an alternative to incarceration for low-level offenders. It now appears, however, that community service is rarely used as a true alternative to prison, but rather as an added condition of probation. The body of research on community service in the United States is modest, so relatively little is known about its characteristics and administration. Data were attained from 88 Texas probation professionals via self-administered written surveys in an effort to gather information about the use of community service as a criminal sanction in Texas. Frequency distribution analyses identified characteristics of both community service programs and offender participants in Texas.

There has been a rising concern surrounding risk within society. This increasing concern has dominated almost all aspects of human life and more specifically the way in which citizens are governed. How risk is addressed in general has shifted significantly; given this, the criminal justice system has also seen an escalation in concerns surrounding risk. Subsequently, there has been a push towards evaluating said risks through the use of actuarial assessment tools. Research has shown that with the rising reliance on actuarial assessment tools came the decrease in practitioner’s ability to rely on their professional judgement when conducting their work. However, there has been a gap identified in the literature. This gap pertains to how practitioners, particularly, probation officers perceive the impact of these actuarial tools on their work. This study aims to analyse how probation officers, within the province of Ontario, view the impact of actuarial assessment tools on their work. This study is guided by the theory of governmentality, as coined by Michel Foucault. In order to explore the impact of actuarial assessment tools on the practice of probation, seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with former probation officers. The perceptions varied and participants did not provide a unique and monolithic response; rather, the voices of all participants were shared to create a larger picture of how actuarial assessment tools impact the work of practitioners in the practice of probation.

The use of, and attitudes towards, time management among undergraduates at Brigham Young University (BYU) was examined. Data were collected using two online surveys and an electronic time log tool. The data from the surveys were analyzed using canonical correlations, multiple regressions, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), factor analysis, and multivariate graphical methods. Pilot survey results showed freshmen who were concerned with time management and organization had lower GPAs than those who asserted they were spontaneous and successful without time management. The main survey produced contradictory evidence, showing positive correlations for both freshmen and sophomores between GPA and students who agreed with self-descriptors that showed strong resolve for planning and structure. Time log data showed students on academic probation do not spend as much time on academic based activities as students in the control group. These findings suggest a need for further research into both BYU students' attitudes towards time management and the time use differences between high academically achieving students and students on academic probation.

Time log data (time-spent and adjective evaluations), a six question survey about time management attitudes, and the Adult Self Expression Scale (behavioral and situational subscales), were examined regarding how well each predict GPA. This paper contains two studies. The first study uses canonical correlations to examine the natural relationships between GPA and the five sets of predictor variables. The second study is hypothesis testing with regard to four groups: males and females on academic probation, and males and females with high GPAs. The effects of academic probation and gender on the same four sets of variables are examined: time spent on selected activities, adjective evaluations of activities, a six question survey, and the behavioral and situational dimensions of the ASES. The six question survey shows the strongest connection with GPA. The time log data, while not very compelling, shows promise for future research. Of all of the variable sets, the ASES is the weakest predictor of GPA.

This dissertation examines how the nature, extent, and consequences of mass supervision shape the health outcomes of individuals living under parole and probation. It addresses gaps within the geography literature concerning systems of parole and probation, as well as offering a contribution to examinations of the health impacts associated with these pervasive forms of carceral control. Using qualitative approaches, I explore the following research questions: 1) What are the structural conditions through which mass supervision impacts individual and community health? 2) How are structural dimensions of mass supervision experienced, and how might these embodied experiences shape pathways to ill-health? 3) How might the health impacts of mass supervision relate to processes of racial formation? In answering these questions this study draws on and synthesizes literatures from carceral geographies, biosocial theory and theories of racial capitalism. Key to understanding the health impacts of supervision is an integrated analysis of both the structural and the embodied and experiential pathways. By examining the impacts of and interrelations between these pathways, this study provides important context for the development of future research into persistent health inequities and the role of carceral control in spatial, political-economic and racial processes. / Geography