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Thesis (M.A. (Social Work)) -- University Of Lmpopo, 2022 / The study concentrated on factors that hinder the utilisation of intermediary social work support services to alleged child offenders in Mopani District. The study aimed to assess knowledge from probation officers in respect of awareness, utilisation and effectiveness of referral to intermediary services, as well as the level at which they can refer alleged child offenders to an intermediary. The study employed the qualitative research design. The Integrated Service model was employed to understand the utilisation of intermediary social work support services to alleged child offenders. Purposive sampling was used to obtain nine participants who were probation officers. Ethical clearance was obtained from the University of Limpopo and gatekeepers approval from the Department of Social Development. Participation was voluntary and no one was forced to participate. The findings of the study revealed that there are no clear guidelines or legislation for probation officers to guide them on how and when to recommend the alleged child offenders to the intermediary services. The study also revealed that section 158(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 is not effective to alleged child offenders but rather is used to child victims. Therefore, probation officers must have understanding of the role of an intermediary, process and referral when conducting assessments. As a result, the study recommends that the probation officers should come to the developmental level of the child, speak the language of the child and follow up assessment interviews as opposed to informed allegation interviews. However, training is also recommended to all probation officers about the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 and amendments of the Child Justice Act 75 of 2008 with the inclusion of intermediary services to alleged child offenders

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

Contemporary probation practice has come to be subject to the logic of risk. The rise in the logic of risk has led to significant changes in penal practices. Therefore, it is sociologically important to explore the recent research on the evolution and transformation of probation in Canada with regard to the logic of risk. The purpose of my research was to explore how the logic of risk has impacted and transformed probation objectives, and how it impacted the role of probation officers. Specifically, I wanted to explore how publications present the transformation of probation due to the logic of risk, the formation of new objectives for the system, the deployment of new practices and tools, and how these transformations and new objectives have changed the role of probation officers. To do this, it was determined that a critical literature review of published articles (both academic and government sources) would be the most appropriate data collection method. To analyze the data, an eleven-stage process to a hybrid thematic analysis was utilized. Through this analysis, four main themes were uncovered and explored using a governmentality framework. Objectives of probation as forms effective penal governance were presented, efficient governance through risk was demonstrated through resource allocation, and effective and efficient decision making is explored. It is hypothesized that risk logic leads to the use of heuristic strategies in probation officer decision making. In this thesis, I argue that we are in a phase of ‘new rehabilitationism’ that draws on notions of rehabilitation and reframes them under neo-liberal strategies for control through normalization. In addition to this, knowledge production of probation through the logic of risk is explored and the effects of knowledge/power and its implications for probationers outlined.

This thesis is an exploration of how professional status is gained and sustained. Sociologists, in taking for granted which occupations are universally identified as professions have concentrated their studies on elite occupations, primarily law and medicine. Their attention has been focussed on the occupational, organizational and behavioural characteristics of these professions, rather than the personal or social characteristics of the incumbents. Consequently, although acknowledging that class, gender and race can provide or limit the resources for professionalizing, these personal attributes have not been considered central to the understanding of the term profession. The research is concerned with the relationship between professional status and gender in probation during a period in its history when it faced considerable threats. It traces the profession's history and maps its rise and fall in relation to its changing gendered composition, culminating in the government's decision to remove the prior qualification for practice in 1995 in order to attract ex-servicemen into probation. The reconstruction of probation into a credible profession is the substantive focus of this study. The analysis of the reconstruction is through a gendered lens and a discourse analytical approach is used to examine texts prepared by probation to promote its cause. This thesis concludes that the status of an occupation is directly related to its gendered construction and to be considered a 'full' profession requires middle class masculinity. Whilst masculine characteristics continue to be necessary for influence and success, the constant drift towards the masculinization of everyone undermines the contribution women can make to organizations and services. In retrospectively revealing the processes through which masculinization and professionalization are discursively achieved, the study opens up the possibility for future challenges to the devaluation of occupations dominated by women.

Probation officers are departing their employment before retirement at a high rate depending on the agency, location, and type of position, which impacts society. The cost associated with training a new officer could consume a large portion of an agency's yearly budget, leaving many inexperienced officers to supervise dangerous offenders and defendants. Thus, it is important to examine factors influencing retention such as whether individualistic and collectivist values predict a relationship between retention intent of probation officers. The purpose of this quantitative research study, guided by Hofstede's cultural theory, was to determine whether family embeddedness influences retention intent of probation officers. Linear regression was used to examine the relationship between the variables. The Sobel test was used to determine if family embeddedness mediated retention-intent. Federal probation and pretrial services officers (n=85) from 5 regions completed online survey questionnaires (Individualistic values scale, Employee Retention scale, Global Measure of Job Embeddedness, and Auckland Individualism and Collectivistic Scale). The results showed that family embeddedness is not a mediator for probation officers that possessed individualistic or collectivistic values. The social change implication of this study includes a recommendation for the development of an employee screening instrument that identifies employees' values to increase retention of probation officers, which can be used to select and train staff.

The high recidivism rate of Black male juvenile offenders is a problem in the United States that continues to be of great concern. Probation has gained popularity as being a means of addressing and reducing the high recidivism rates of juvenile offenders. However, there is a lack of research regarding Black male juvenile probationers' perceptions of their probation officers' role in reducing their recidivism. This study examined the following: a) the predictive relationships between Black male probationers' perceptions of their probation officers, their perceptions of the probation officers' job, and their recidivism within 3 years of being place on probation; and (b) Black male probationers' perceptions of their probation officers, their perceptions of the probation officers' job, and their ratings of the probation officer's effectiveness in deterring their recidivism. Ecological systems theory was used as the theoretical foundation for guiding this research. Results from a logistic regression analysis showed that Black male probationers' perceptions of their probation officers and the job of their probation officers did not predict their recidivism. The study has implications for social change because the results provide empirical evidence regarding Black male probationer's perceptions of their probation officers and recidivism. Human services professionals, leaders in the criminal justice field, and policy makers could use findings from the study to advocate for the need to develop training programs for probation officers that foster positive relationship building between probationers and probation officers. The positive relationships may subsequently bring social change by reducing recidivism among Black juvenile male offenders.

There is little academic research that examines whether there are differences between the ways probation officers and community members perceive the use of force on juvenile offenders. Failure to understand the differences in these perceptions negatively affected a probation department in California, which failed to address public concerns regarding the use of force in the juvenile hall, which resulted in a consent decree and a costly financial settlement. Using socialization theory as the foundation, the purpose of this study was to understand if there is a statistically significant difference between probation officers and civilians regarding their perceptions of use of force against juvenile offenders. Data were collected from a nonprobability sample of probation officers (n = 71) and community members (n = 125) in a Northern California community through an online survey that featured 5 scenarios of escalating behavior from a juvenile offender. Respondents were asked to evaluate whether the use of force was appropriate or excessive for each scenario. Data were analyzed using an independent samples t test and chi-square tests of independence. Findings indicated that, overall, there is a statistically significant difference in the perception of use of force between the 2 groups (p <. -4.04). Specifically, community members are more likely to have a lower threshold of tolerance for use of force than probation officers in 3 of the 5 scenarios in the survey. The positive social change implications of this study include recommendations to probation departments in California for enhanced collaboration and training with community members to better understand the expectations of each group related to use of force and the treatment of juvenile offenders.

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

This thesis examines professional supervision practice under new public management from the perspectives of probation officers and service managers in the Community Probation Service. In particular, the research explores the participants’ philosophy of professional supervision, their recent supervision experiences, and their aspirations and expectations with regard to professional supervision. In order to provide a background for an informed analysis and discussion of the research findings, the thesis discusses the key themes in the social service supervision and new public management literature. It also examines the Community Probation Service’s context and the history of new public management and professional supervision in this organisation. The thesis is a qualitative study that is informed by social work practice theory and utilises the phenomenological and hermeneutic approaches. The research findings show that amongst the participants there was: (a) an unclear philosophy of supervision; (b) minimal recent experience of supervision and little ownership or support for the agency supervision project; (c) a belief that the context increased their need for supervision, but at the same time reduced their ability to receive or participate in it; (d) an expectation that professional supervision would assist them to work more effectively with clients and staff; (e) an expectation of good committed supervisors who would support and help them develop; and (f) an expectation that the agency would support professional supervision through resourcing, guidelines, accredited supervisors and the establishment of a learning culture. The major implications of these findings are that: (1) there is a need for staff to be socialised into professional social service supervision; (2) that the professional supervision programme within the Community Probation Service, as currently implemented, is unlikely to be successful; and (3) that professional social service supervision needs to be focused upon persons and their environments, rather than upon the agency.