Jill Annison

Transforming Rehabilitation: Another example of English ‘exceptionalism’ or a blueprint for the rest of Europe?

The Transforming Rehabilitation agenda represents a radical departure in the way that rehabilitative services are delivered in England and Wales. Under the proposed changes, the existing Probation Trusts will be replaced by a significantly smaller National Probation Service dealing with the rump of high-risk public protection cases. The supervision and delivery of services to those offenders assessed as low and medium risk will be contracted to a range of providers on a payment by results basis. In this introduction to the special edition of the European Journal of Probation, the authors trace the policy developments that have extended the scope of the privatisation of state services in England and Wales. They then consider the values underpinning these developments and the potential impact on probation work before finally exploring the ways in which the current debate over the future of the probation service in England and Wales are being constructed and responses to this crisis shaped. This is organised into four interrelated arguments – the evidence response; the implementation response; the media response and the reclaim response.

Style over substance? A review of the evidence base for the use of learning styles in probation

The implementation of the What Works agenda within probation has brought about the development and delivery of a suite of accredited programmes in relation to work with offenders. The accreditation criteria emphasize the evidence-based nature of these interventions and outline a number of key principles. An integral tenet of this approach has been ‘relevance to offenders’ learning style’. While most of the other aspects have been explored in research studies and publications, this element has tended to become a ‘given’ and while mentioned, has not been subjected to a similar level of critique. The recent publication of an evaluation of learning styles by the Learning and Skills Research Centre has provided an important overview and appraisal of this area, which is relevant to probation practice. This article draws together these various strands by outlining the changing situation in probation, reviewing the findings concerning learning styles and then developing an analysis of the wider implications for probation policy and practice.

Change and the Probation Service in England and Wales: A Gendered Lens:

The National Probation Service in England and Wales has been buffeted by change in recent years. This has happened at a time when rhetoric has become increasingly punitive, with probation emphasising its role in providing punishment in the community. It therefore seems surprising that there has been a decisive shift in terms of the gendered composition of its staff — there are now many more women than men working in probation. This review outlines quantitative changes and then explores qualitative research data from women probation officers. These different perspectives provide an in-depth account of this interesting and still-changing organisational setting.

Innovation in probation practice Past, present and future

This article derives from the opening speech I made at Napos Centenary Conference in July 2012. It considers innovation in relation to probation practice, exploring examples from the past in order to review and analyse issues in the present and to look ahead to the challenges that lie ahead for probation.

Delving into the Probation Journal: Portrayals of women probation officers and women offenders

The electronic back catalogue of the Probation Journal (1929—present) has recently become available via the publisher’s website (http://prb.sagepub.com/ archive/). This article provides a descriptive and analytical critique of portrayals of women probation officers and women offenders by drawing from the range of editions of the Probation Journal.

Women offenders: Promoting a holistic approach and continuity of care across criminal justice and health interventions:

Analysis of data in this article focuses on the self-reported situations of 21 female respondents who were part of a large-scale study of offenders’ health needs. The findings show an extensive range of physical and psychological problems, often intertwined with substance misuse and other issues, including offending behaviour. Four components of an existing model of ‘continuity of care’ are reviewed to explore the difficulties, but also the potential, for collaborative and co-ordinated interventions with regard to working with women offenders. Concern is expressed about the changes and fragmentation in provision for women brought about by the Transforming Rehabilitation agenda in England and Wales. It is advocated here that policy and practice should be developed across health and criminal justice agencies to provide holistic and integrated approaches which could support women offenders in their attempts to stabilize their lives and to find pathways out of crime.

Health trainer-led motivational intervention plus usual care for people under community supervision compared with usual care alone: a study protocol for a parallel-group pilot randomised controlled trial (STRENGTHEN).

Introduction People with experience of the criminal justice system typically have worse physical and mental health, lower levels of mental well-being and have less healthy lifestyles than the general population. Health trainers have worked with offenders in the community to provide support for lifestyle change, enhance mental well-being and signpost to appropriate services. There has been no rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of providing such community support. This study aims to determine the feasibility and acceptability of conducting a randomised trial and delivering a health trainer intervention to people receiving community supervision in the UK. Methods and analysis A multicentre, parallel, two-group randomised controlled trial recruiting 120 participants with 1:1 individual allocation to receive support from a health trainer and usual care or usual care alone, with mixed methods process evaluation. Participants receive community supervision from an offender manager in either a Community Rehabilitation Company or the National Probation Service. If they have served a custodial sentence, then they have to have been released for at least 2 months. The supervision period must have at least 7 months left at recruitment. Participants are interested in receiving support to change diet, physical activity, alcohol use and smoking and/or improve mental well-being. The primary outcome is mental well-being with secondary outcomes related to smoking, physical activity, alcohol consumption and diet. The primary outcome will inform sample size calculations for a definitive trial. Ethics and dissemination The study has been approved by the Health and Care Research Wales Ethics Committee (REC reference 16/WA/0171). Dissemination will include publication of the intervention development process and findings for the stated outcomes, parallel process evaluation and economic evaluation in peer-reviewed journals. Results will also be disseminated to stakeholders and trial participants. Trial registration numbers ISRCTN80475744; Pre-results.

General practitioner contributions to achieving sustained healthcare for offenders: a qualitative study.

BackgroundOffenders frequently have substantial healthcare needs and, like many other socially marginalised groups, often receive healthcare in inverse proportion to their needs. Improved continuity of healthcare over time could contribute to addressing these needs. General Practitioners need to be able to support people with complex social and medical problems, even in systems that are not specifically designed to manage individuals with such degrees of complexity. We aimed to examine offenders’ perspectives on factors that contributed to, or worked against, creating and sustaining their access to healthcare.MethodsFrom a sample of 200 participants serving community or prison sentences in South West (SW) and South East (SE) England, who were interviewed about their health care experiences as part of the Care for Offenders: Continuity of Access (COCOA) study, we purposively sampled 22 participants for this sub-study, based on service use. These interviews were transcribed verbatim. A thematic analytic approach initially applied 5 a priori codes based on access and different components of continuity. Data were then examined for factors that contributed to achieving and disrupting access and continuity.ResultsParticipants described how their own life situations and behaviours contributed to their problems in accessing healthcare and also identified barriers created by existing access arrangements. They also highlighted how some General Practitioners used their initiative and skills to ‘workaround’ the system, and build positive relationships with them; feeling listened to and building trust were particularly valued, as was clear communication. Limitations faced by General Practitioners included a lack of appropriate services to refer people to, where the offender patients would meet the access criteria, and disagreements regarding medication prescriptions.ConclusionsGeneral Practitioners can make a positive contribution to supporting access to healthcare for an under-served population by facilitating more flexible and less formal access arrangements, by using their relationship skills, and by problem-solving. General Practitioners should recognise their potential to transform people’s experience of healthcare whilst working in imperfect systems, particularly with vulnerable and marginalised groups who have complex medical and social needs.

Evidence-based skills in criminal justice: international research on supporting rehabilitation and desistance.

This book brings together emerging international research on how specific, evidence-based practice and skills in criminal justice can lead to positive outcomes, such as desistance from crime, reduced reoffending, and active service-user engagement. Contributors address skills and practices that can be applied across a range of criminal justice settings—particularly in probation, youth justice, and private sector settings—while exploring the organizational and wider policy contexts that might affect their implementation and efficacy. Uniquely global in its scope, this book is of particular relevance to the larger push to transform the nature of criminal rehabilitation.

Discovering Mental Ill Health: ‘Problem-Solving’ in an English Magistrates’ Court

In this chapter, we examine one particular approach to problem-solving in the English criminal justice system. The incorporation of problem-solving into Magistrates’ Courts for low-risk offenders has been called a ‘window of opportunity’ (Donoghue, 2014) insofar as it provides an opportunity to engage with ‘hard-to-reach’ social groups. It aims to identify any problems which are acting as barriers to a better life and signpost the person to services which can help address these problems. One of the aims of the project that we have been conducting on community justice is to examine how problem-solving works as a specific set of practices for those with mental ill health problems.