Maurice Vanstone

What works in resettlement? Findings from seven Pathfinders for short-term prisoners in England and Wales:

This article presents findings from the evaluation of Phase One of the resettlement ‘Pathfinder’, which was funded under the Home Office Crime Reduction Programme. Seven projects (four probation-led and three run by voluntary agencies) targeted the resettlement needs and/or offending behaviour of adults sentenced to prison for under 12 months, who are currently not subject to post-release supervision. All participants received help with welfare needs, and some attended a short cognitive motivational programme. The results suggest that such interventions can significantly reduce the problems faced by this frequently neglected group, as well as having a positive effect on their attitudes to crime. There was also some evidence of reductions in reconviction, especially among those who maintained contact with mentors after release. The findings have implications for the Governments resettlement agenda, as set out in the Reducing Re-offending National Action Plan, as well as for NOMS policy and practice. The shelving of plans for the introduction of ‘Custody Plus’, it is argued, creates a risk that potentially effective ‘through the gate’ work with short-termers will not come to fruition.

The impact of skills in probation work: a reconviction study

This article reports on the results of a quasi-experimental study of practitioners’ skills in probation work. Videotaped interviews were produced by a group of probation officers and analysed by researchers using a checklist designed to identify the range of skills used in one-to-one supervision. Reconviction rates were found to be significantly lower among those whose supervisors were assessed as using a wider range of skills. The article also reviews the recent history of research on practitioners’ skills in probation, and considers the implications of positive findings from this and other studies.

Cognitive‐Behavioural Work with Offenders in the UK: A History of Influential Endeavour

Programmes premised on the cognitive-behavioural theoretical model have become an important feature of work with people who offend, and the model itself has become a cornerstone of the ‘what works’ enterprise in the United Kingdom. This has not occurred without critical attention from commentators in both the academic and practice worlds. This article attempts to draw together the strands of that debate, and provide a critical account of the recent history of the models development and application within the criminal justice system that accords more significance to pioneering work in the United Kingdom than has been hitherto recognised. It is argued that one of the features of the response of the probation service to the pessimistic conclusions of research into the impact of community supervision in the 1970s was a divergence of policy and practice, the former redirecting the efforts of the service towards diversion from custody and the latter retaining its commitment to rehabilitation. While acknowledging the limitations of the cognitive-behavioural model, it is argued that by contributing positively to evidence-based, rehabilitative effort it has given impetus to a reunification of the focus of policy and practice.

Voluntary After-Care and the Probation Service: a case of diminishing responsibility

In a Home Office funded study of the voluntary after-care of short-term prisoners, the authors found that this area of probation service activity had decreased markedly in volume and perceived priority. This article explores the history of voluntary after-care; the reasons for its decline; the haracteristics and needs of potential users of this kind of service, and the manner in which it is still provided by some probation areas. Many short-term prisoners are recidivist offenders facing major social and personal difficulties, and it is argued that there are good reasons for making some provision for this group.

Mission Control: The Origins of a Humanitarian Service:

In effect, this article is a summary of the first part of a larger piece of historical research, which in its entirety concentrates more on the writings of practitioners and interested outsiders. The result of this approach has produced a revised history of the probation service that challenges orthodox accounts, builds on the work of commentators like Bill McWilliams, and reflects on how a focus on practice as opposed to policy discourse renders different meanings to, and understandings of, the development of the concept during the 20th century. This article focuses on the origins and early period of probation history.

Social Exclusion and the Politics of Criminal Justice: A Tale of Two Administrations

This article deals with the relationship between the emerging criminal justice and social policies of the 1997 Labour government. It analyses the legacy inherited from the previous Conservative administrations and explores the extent to which policy making in the one area is now influenced by activity in the other. The authors suggest that the objects of criminal justice policy are most likely to be achieved when understood and developed within a social policy context. They conclude, however, that in a number of important aspects, the current government seems more likely to pursue social policy objectives by invoking the instruments of criminal justice.

Moving Away from Social Work and Half Way Back Again: New Research on Skills in Probation

Research on social work in the criminal justice system was well represented in the social work literature until the 1990s. Since then, changes in the organisation, training and research base of probation practice, particularly in England and Wales, have all contributed to a separation between probation research and the mainstream social work research literature. However, recent probation research, by focusing on individual practice skills and on the quality of relationships, is producing findings which resonate with traditional social work concerns. The study presented here, based on analysis of videotaped interviews between probation staff and the people they are supervising, shows what skills are used and the effects of skilled supervision. People supervised by more skilled staff were significantly less likely to be reconvicted over a two-year follow-up, and the most effective supervisors combined good relationship skills with a range of ‘structuring’ or change-promoting skills. In effect, this can be regarded as a test of the impact of social work skills used by probation staff and suggests that a closer relationship between mainstream social work research and probation research could be productive for both.

Maintaining Programme Integrity The FOR . . . A Change Programme and the Resettlement of Ex-Prisoners

This article describes the process and results of monitoring the programme integrity of FOR . . . A Change, a group programme for offenders, as it was being delivered in three prisons in the United Kingdom. In so doing, it briefly describes the aims, structure, and theoretical orientation of the programme; explains what informed the particular approach to checking for integrity and how it was implemented; outlines the results; and finally, postulates the requisite conditions for the successful maintenance of programme integrity.

Abolishing probation–a political crime?

Ironically, on the eve of its centenary, the probation service–despite its unique position within the criminal justice system–is in greater danger of extinction than at any time in its history. This article argues that populist-driven policies offer little in the way of public protection against crime or reduction in the harm caused by it. Instead, it promotes the case for a renewed political commitment to probation by arguing for a constructive, evidence-based approach to community sentences based on the principle of consent, community participation, and self-sentencing–probationers sharing responsibility for devising their own rehabilitation programmes that exploit their strengths rather than their weaknesses.

Probation Service Objectives and the Neglected Ingredients

The ability to help people effectively remains the major challenge for the Probation Service, whilst at the same time responding constructively and confidently to the problems of a punitive criminal justice system. To do this, it is vital that the Service retains essential social work values whilst enhancing its status as a learning organisation, as opposed to a bureaucracy. This paper aims to describe the waves of change that the Service has faced and examines their implications for skills, training, values and objectives.