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In 1976 the Leicestershire Probation Service established a two-tier system for its work in the assessment and supervision of offenders. The first tier, the Court Intake and Assessment Team, prepared Social Enquiry Reports on offenders not known or not currently being supervised by the agency. If the court made a supervision order the case was transferred to the Treatment Teams, the second tier, who carried out the supervision. Previous research had only examined the work of the intake team in isolation. The aim of this thesis was to examine the intake team in the context of the treatment teams, the offenders and the expectations placed upon it by the agency. The main purpose of the thesis was to trace and evaluate the offender's career with the Probation Service from his original contact with an Intake Officer for the preparation of the report to the supervision he received by the Treatment Team officer. Within that main aim are several important areas. These were whether, by setting up a specialist report-writing team, the courts received reports of higher quality than hitherto and whether the intake team was gearing its recommendations to include or exclude particular types of offenders. The concept of targeting became an important issue within the thesis. The thesis shows how a needs/risk scale used at the report-preparation stage could assist officers in targeting offenders for supervision. The examination of the use of labelling within reports and case records, the transfer process that existed and the amount of supervision offered showed up serious flaws in the intake system. Furthermore, the thesis showed that the intake system created tensions for the officers working within it, especially the Treatment Team ones. The conclusion of the thesis is that the intake system as researched should either be disbanded or seriously modified.

No description available.

Genom kvalitativa intervjuer med fem kriminalvårdsanställda och en transidentifierad intagen ville jag bidra med kunskap om hur Kriminalvårdens möten med fängelsedömda transpersoner kan se ut. Syftet med studien var att undersöka normer, värderingar och praktiker som intervjudeltagarna gav uttryck för när det gäller intagna transpersoner. Intervjudeltagarna uttryckte en medvetenhet kring gruppens utsatta position i fängelsemiljön men vittnade samtidigt om avsaknad av såväl riktlinjer som strukturerade arbetssätt i frågorna. Praktiker fokuserade snarare på det avvikande och direkta än det normativa och förebyggande. Intagna själva förväntades begripliggöra sin identitet för omgivningen, samtidigt som insatser riktade mot personalens (o)medvetenhet saknades. Kriminalvården kan sägas bidra till att upprätthålla normativa föreställningar om två binära kön genom att inte tillhandahålla handlingsplaner eller självklara alternativ för personer som sträcker sig mellan, bortom eller är föränderliga mellan de två könskategorierna kvinna och man. Att inte ta ställning illustrerar maktutövning, osynliggörande och kan innebära en kränkning i sig själv. / Through qualitative interviews with five employees in the Swedish correctional system and one trans-identified inmate, I sought to get an understanding of transgender inmates are dealt with in the Swedish correctional system. The aim of this study was to examine norms, values and practices expressed by the interview participants regarding transgender inmates. The interview participants expressed an awareness of the group’s vulnerable position in the prison environment, but also the lack of guidelines as well as structured methods to handle the group. Responses focused on the deviant and direct rather than the normative and preventive. The transgendered inmates themselves were responsible to explain their identity to others. At the same time there were no efforts to make the staff members aware of questions concerning gender identities and/or expressions. The Swedish correctional system can be said to maintain normative conceptions of two binary sexes by failing to provide action plans or natural options for persons with gender identities that extend beyond woman or man, or fluctuate between the two categories. To refuse to take a stand is to exercise power, make transgender inmates invisible, and perhaps even be seen as a violation in itself.

The context for this dissertation is the growing use of voluntary sector organisations and private companies as providers of probation services in England and Wales. The study focusses on the everyday experience of probation supervision in an increasingly multi-agency environment and explores this experience from the point of view of probation workers and the people they supervise. The objectives of the study are to examine whether the probation service makes a distinctive contribution to this work, to investigate the interactions between supervisees, probation supervisors and workers from other agencies, to explore the purpose of different elements of community orders and to understand whether supervisees adopt different approaches to compliance with different elements of their orders. Drawing on empirical interview data, supplemented by data from probation service case records and from fieldwork notes compiled while in probation offices undertaking interviews, I identify patterns, themes and associations which help us understand the new structures and relationships. The research concludes that, for supervisees and supervisors, the involuntary nature of community supervision is significant. The supervisees in this study viewed the requirements of their community orders as legitimate because the orders were imposed by the court. They complied with these requirements in order to avoid breach proceedings, few would have volunteered for the services that they were receiving from the probation service or elsewhere. They attached more weight to instructions from probation supervisors than to those from key workers from other agencies. Supervisees viewed their orders as both a punishment and a help, without drawing a distinction between services received from the probation service and from other agencies. Thus the research makes a significant contribution to knowledge by outlining the importance of these relationships, between worker and supervisee and between worker and worker, in a new context of provision.

In England and Wales, life imprisonment is the ultimate sanction for the most serious crimes. The introduction of Discretionary Lifer Panels (DLPs) in 1992 was a major development in the way that lifers are managed within the penal system. This thesis explores 'life after life imprisonment' for the first cohort of discretionary lifers who were released into the community through the DLP process. The study is set in the context of a renewed interest in empirical research on the resettlement of ex-prisoners, yet little of this work has focused on life-sentenced offenders. By investigating the resettlement process of 138 discretionary lifers released on life licence between 1992 and 1997, this research contributes to empirical and theoretical understanding of rehabilitation and desistance from crime after long-term imprisonment. Part One considers the various factors that have shaped the discretionary life sentence, and sets out the research methods used. Part Two examines the role of the Probation Service in the process of resettlement. Based on empirical work across probation areas, it sheds light on the claim that contemporary probation practice is indicative of a more general authoritarian and exclusionary approach to resettlement. Part Three explores the 'disistance and persistance' process for lifers. It provides a detailed analysis of the narrative accounts of resettled lifers, and explores the reasons why they had given up crime. It also highlights the growing numbers of recalled lifers, and seeks to identify factors associated with failure on life licence. This thesis concludes by arguing that rehabilitation continues to have a prominent place within the discourse of resettlement. Overall, this thesis lends support to theories of disistance from crime that emphasise the importance of shifts in offenders' narrative identities to explain cessation from criminal behaviour, and highlights the role of a professional relationship as a powerful vehicle for change.

I denna studie undersöker vi hur personalen på en anstalt i Sverige bemöter barn som besöker ett fängelse. Mötet kan på många sätt vara känsligt och barn med frihetsberövade föräldrar behöver tas emot av personal som förstår dess livssituation. Genom kvalitativa intervjuer vill vi förstå hur barnperspektivet på anstalten yttrar sig, vilken kompetens som finns hos personalen samt om det finns något samarbete mellan olika myndigheter för att stödja barnet.  I resultatdelen framförs och diskuteras nio intervjuades åsikter i förhållande till tidigare begrepp och forskning. Sammanfattningsvis menar vi att alla intervjuade har ett barnperspektiv men att lagar och föreskrifter ibland hindrar personalen att möta barnet ur barnets perspektiv. De anställda på anstalten ska jobba för att den intagne inte ska återfalla i brott samt att upprätthålla säkerhet. Att vara barn till någon som sitter i fängelse är speciellt. När barnet kommer till anstalten måste höga säkerhetskrav balanseras med vad barnet uttrycker och behöver. Vidare ser vi att ett större samarbete mellan socialtjänsten, kriminalvården och andra myndigheter skulle kunna stödja barnet och hans/hennes familj under förälderns fängelsevistelse. / The aim of this essay is to study how the staff at a Swedish prison approaches children that visit the prison. The meeting can in many ways be sensitive and children with imprisoned parents need to be welcomed by employees that have an understanding of their situation. The method used is qualitative interviews. Through these interviews we explore the child perspective at the prison, the employee’s competence and if there is any cooperation between different authorities to support the child.  In total we have interviewed nine persons and their views and reflections are compared with established research. We conclude that all the interviewees apply a child perspective in their work. However sometimes laws and regulations in effect hamper the staff’s ability to meet the child from the child’s perspective. The prime objectives for the employees at a prison are to maintain security and to help the inmates towards a life outside the criminal sphere. To be a child and have a parent in prison is difficult. When the child visits the prison his/her needs and feelings has to be balanced with the security demands at the prison. We also argue that it would be helpful for the support of the child and his/her family if social services, The Prison and Probation Service and other authorities would have a closer cooperation.

The primary goal of this thesis is to consider probation practice and the contribution of leadership to the achievement of effective service delivery in the New Zealand Community Probation Service during a period of major change. In relation to this goal, the objectives are: (a) to explore Probation Officers' and Service Managers' understandings of the political and managerial changes affecting the New Zealand Probation Service; (b) to ascertain Probation Officers' and Service Managers' views of probation values, knowledge, skills and practice; (c) to understand Probation Officers' and Service Managers' views of the assessment of service delivery; (d) to identify how Probation Officers and Service Managers define and what they understand by the concepts of leadership and effective service delivery; (e) to examine how the relationship between leadership and effective service delivery is perceived and acted upon by Probation Officers and Service Managers; and (f) to determine the structures and processes that are necessary to maximise the contribution of leadership to the achievement of effective service delivery. The research participants comprised a purposeful sample of 27 Probation Officers and 8 Service Managers (front-line staff involved in service delivery) recruited from among those employed in the northern and southern administrative regions of the Probation Service. Qualitative data were collected via personal in-depth interviews and augmented by focus group discussions. The key findings of the study are that: first, effective service delivery was not perceived to be limited to the reduction of recidivism alone, but to also include the client's broader social experience, recognising that positive social benefit can extend beyond the simple measurement of offending behaviour. second, leaders must be seen to be credible if they are to create willing followers. This credibility rested upon the leader's possession of relevant practice knowledge and skills, their demonstrated commitment to professional practice, their ability to provide clear direction for practice and their ability to ensure that adequate resources are available to achieve service delivery goals; third, a positive association was drawn between a leader's professional experience, possession of personal power and ability to influence Probation Officer practice. In essence, the leader's experience and competence has a bearing upon confidence in the leader. Participants also posited a connection between positive leadership, the development of a 'team' culture, Probation Officer work performance and service delivery. Overall, the linkage between leadership and effective service delivery was conceived of as being dependent upon the ability of leaders to enhance the practice of Probation Officers. From this perspective, five leadership challenges for senior managers in the Probation Service were identified. These included the challenges to: (a) establish the professional foundations of probation practice; (b) develop a clearer, integrated statement of purpose, values and beliefs that identifies probation as a distinct area of professional practice; (c) develop probation practice in a flexible manner, incorporating international influences while remaining responsive to features and events that reflect the dynamic character of the local environment; (d) to ensure that the integrative structures, processes and new roles/positions necessary to underpin and support probation practice are introduced or implemented, notably for the provision of professional supervision; and (e) to introduce a multi-dimensional approach to the assessment of service delivery that includes both quantitative and qualitative indicators of aspects other than recidivism alone. It is acknowledged that these challenges have significant resource implications.

The purpose of the study was to explore probation officers approach professionally and privately to clients who are convicted or suspected of crime. We wanted to highlight the emotional strain that the professional role can create. We used a qualitative research approach in which the data collection method consisted of semi-structured interviews with six probation officers. The result showed that within the occupation there was a two-part view of whether there was difficulties to remain neutral toward clients who have committed more severe types of crime. The result showed that there were probation officers whose private values were too strong. There was some challenges in keeping distance between the professional and the private role when a closeness to the client was created. However, the closeness was considered a fundamental part to create a supportive relationship in order to achieve successful rehabilitation, which in some ways showed to be complicated. / Syftet med studien var att undersöka yrkesgruppen frivårdsinspektörer och dess förhållningssätt både professionellt och privat gentemot de klienter som är dömda eller misstänkta för brott. Vidare ville vi belysa den emotionella belastningen som yrkesrollen skapar och hur denna hanteras. För att beskriva detta använde vi oss av en kvalitativ forskningsansats där datainsamlingsmetoden bestod av semistrukturerade intervjuer med sex stycken frivårdsinspektörer. Resultatet visade att det inom yrkesgruppen fanns en tvådelad syn gällande svårigheten att förhålla sig neutralt gentemot klienter som utfört svårare typer av brott. Detta då det framkom att det inom verksamheten fanns frivårdsinspektörer vars privata värderingar var för starka. Vidare visade resultatet en viss utmaning gällande att hålla distans mellan yrkesrollen och den privata då det skapades en närhet till klienten. Närheten ansågs dock grundläggande för att skapa en bärande relation i syfte att nå ett lyckat rehabiliteringsarbete, något som resulterade i ett komplext förhållningssätt.

Background: Cultural projects are increasingly being implemented to help inmates cope with their situations. Nevertheless, research has been scarce in relation to the experiences of the cultural workers implementing the projects within the Prison and Probation Service (PPS). Objective: The study intends to explore the experiences of Skådebanan’s cultural workers in the implementation of cultural projects in relation to the Swedish PPS and the inmates. More specifically, the study addresses two research questions: (1) How do cultural workers experience the interactions with the inmates while implementing cultural projects? (2) How do cultural workers experience the relations with the Prison and Probation Service while planning and implementing cultural projects?  Method: Data was gathered from six cultural workers, working in five regional associations, through four surveys and one interview. These were qualitatively analyzed using a thematic approach. The themes found were then interpreted using Goffman’s theories on “total institution” and the “dramaturgical self”.  Results: The results showed how, according to the cultural workers’ perspective, their interactions with inmates and their relations with PPS were mostly positive, with the exceptions of few challenges. Conclusion: This study can give insights into the interactions that cultural workers have during the implementation of cultural projects with the inmates and the PPS, which might be helpful in the understanding of challenges and facilitators of the implementation process. Nevertheless, further research is needed.