Working with Offenders

160 Pages·1985·17.36 MB·English

by  Hilary Walker, Bill Beaumont (eds.)

PRACTICAL
SOCIAL WORK
Series Editor: Jo Campling
(BASW)
Social work is at an important stage in its development. All
professions must be responsive to changing social and
economic conditions if they are to meet the needs of those
they serve. This series focuses on sound practice and the
specific contribution which social workers can make to the
well-beingof oursocietyin the 1980s.
The British Association of Social Workers has always been
conscious of its role in setting guidelines for practice and in
seekingto raiseprofessionalstandards.Theconceptionofthe
Practical Social Work series ~rose from a survey of BASW
members to discover where they, the practitioners in social
work, felt there was the most need for new literature. The
responsewas overwhelmingandenthusiastic,andtheresultis
acarefullyplanned,coherentseriesofbooks.Theemphasisis
firmly on practice, setin atheoreticalframework.Thebooks
willinform, stimulateandpromotediscussion, thusaddingto
the further development of skills andhighprofessionalstan
dards.Allthe authorsarepractitionersandteachersof social
workrepresentingawide varietyof experience.
JO CAMPLING
PRACTICAL
SOCIAL WORK
(BASW)
PUBLISHED FORTIiCOMING
SocialWorkandMental SocialWorkandChildAbuse
Handicap DavidBallandDavidCooper
DavidAnderson ThePreventionandManagement
SocialWorkandMentalIllness ofViolence
AlanButlerandColinPritchard RobertBrown,StanleyButeand
PeterFord
ResidentialWork
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RogerClough
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WorkingwithFamilies PeterDay
GillGorellBarnes WelfareRightsWorkintheSocial
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MalcolmPayne
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WhyandHow LenaDominelli
CaroleR.Smith CrisisInterventionin
SocialServices
SocialWorkwiththeDyingand
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Bereaved
CaroleR.Smith SocialCareintheCommunity
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CommunityWork
SocialWorkwithJuvenile
AlanTwelvetrees
Offenders
WorkingwithOffenders DavidThorpe,NormanTun,
HilaryWalkerandBill DavidSmithandChristopher
Beaumont(eds) Green
Working with Offenders
Edited by
Hilary Walker and Bill Beaumont
M
MACMILLAN
©British Association of Social Workers 1985
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1985 978-0-333-36840-4
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of
this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or
transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with
the provisions ofthe Copyright Act 1956 (as amended).
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this
publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil
claims for damages.
First published 1985
Published by
Higher and Further Education Division
MACMILLAN PUBLISHERS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Working with offenders. -(BASW practical social work)
1. Corrections-Great Britain
2. Rehabilitation of criminals-Great Britain
I. Walker, Hilary II. Beaumont, Bill, 1945-
III. Series
364.6'0941 HV9644
ISBN 978-0-333-36833-6 ISBN 978-1-349-17739-4 (eBook)
DOI 10 .1007/978-1-349-17739-4
Contents
Acknowledgements V1l
ListofAbbreviations viii
1 DevelopingProbationWork 1
Hilary WalkerandBillBeaumont
2 CourtWork 15
MargaretPowell
3 ProbationandSupervision 32
KevinKirwin
4 Prison-basedWork 48
NigelStone
5 Women'sIssuesinProbationPractice 66
Hilary Walker
6 Probation,Workingfor SocialChange? 83
BillBeaumont
7 GroupworkwithOffenders 101
PaulSenior
8 DayCentres 118
PaulJames
9 DevelopingProbationPractice 134
BillBeaumontandHilary Walker
References 142
Notes onContributors 148
Index 149
Acknowledgements
Bill Beaumont and Hilary Walker would like to thank the
contributors for their commitment to this co-operative pro
ject and acknowledge the support of others with whom we
discussed the ideas in, and progress of, this book. We ap
preciatetheeffortsof all thosewho haveworkedhardto help
prepare the manuscripts. Ourthanks also go toJoCampling
who suggested that we might try again! Paul James's thanks
go to Barbara for her support, encouragement and advice,
and to Liz Harris for making sense of his scrawl and typing
Chapter 8intoreasonableEnglish. Kevin Kirwin'sthanksgo
to allthesecretariesandprobationofficersat NottingHillfor
their help and encouragement, and particularly to Rascha
Martellfortypinghis chapter. Alsoto JeanMcEvoyandJane
Burke for their constructive comments on the first draft.
Margaret Powell's thanks go to Anne Thomas for typing
Chapter2.
List of Abbreviations
BASW BritishAssociationof SocialWorkers
CHAR CampaignforSingleHomelessPeople
CHE CampaignforHomosexualEquality
crn CriminalInvestigationDepartment
CP CommunityProgramme
CPAG ChildPovertyActionGroup
DHSS DepartmentofHealthandSocialSecurity
ECP EnglishCollectiveof Prostitutes
LAG LegalActionGroup
MP Memberof Parliament
MSC ManpowerServicesCommission
NACRO NationalAssociationfor theCareand
Resettlementof Offenders
NALGO NationalandLocalGovernmentOfficers
Association
NAPO NationalAssociationof ProbationOfficers
NARS NationalActivityRecordingStudy
NCCL NationalCouncilforCivil Liberties
NHS NationalHealthService
NYB NationalYouthBureau
POA PrisonOfficersAssociation
PROP TheNationalPrisonersMovement
PROS ProgrammefortheReformof theLaws on
Soliciting
RAP RadicalAlternativesto Prison
TUC TradesUnionCongress
YTS YouthTrainingScheme
1
Developing Probation
Work
HilaryWalkerandBill Beaumont
In thisbookwe hopeto provideapracticetextwhichdevelops
and complements the ideas contained in Probation Work
(Walker and Beaumont, 1981). There we concentrated on
setting out a critical theory of probation workandwere able
to payonlylimited,generalisedattentionto its consequences
for a socialist probation practice. We believethatit isneces
sary and important to make specific and detailed links be
tweentheoryandpractice, andhavetakentheopportunityin
this book to present a practice-oriented text. We have been
able to gathertogether agroupof practisingprobationoffic
ers with knowledge and experience of specific aspects of
probation work, who share a basic political orientation. In
thiswayit hasbeenpossibleto examinedifferentpartsof the
jobin somedepth.
When planningthis bookwe were consciousof thepoten
tial drawbacks of using this compilation structure. We were
anxiousthatthebookshouldnotjustbeacollectionofloosely
connected articles and through our method ofworking have
tried to avoid this pitfall, hoping that as a result the book
would be more cohesive. The group of writers assembled
sharedenoughviewsto provideabasefromwhichtoproceed
in a semi-collectiveway.We met together, circulateddrafts,
discussed and commented on each other's work as writing
proceeded.Itwouldhavebeenusefulto meetmoreregularly
but limitations of time,distanceandexpenseintervened.We
areall practitioners andunionactivists; meetingsandwriting
havehadto befittedintoalreadyover-committedsparetime.
2 DevelopingProbation Work
This meant that we were unable to work in atrulycollective
way, but tried to make best use of what opportunities were
available. Itwillbeevidentfrom readingthechaptersthatwe
differtheoreticallyandpracticallyonsomeissues.Moretime
during meetings to debate some of these areas would have
been welcome. However we are pleased that the group was
able to contain any such differences and work collectively
despitedisagreements.
Fromtheorytopractice
The critical theory of Probation Work provides the agreed
startingpoint for the contributions in thisbook.Theauthors
deliberatelyconcentrate on probation practice, andwe were
anxious that they should not have to devote space to re
stating this theoretical base. In the event some chapters, in
ourview, do significantlyaddto anddevelopthatanalysis,but
all maintain a firm focus on practice issues.It maytherefore
be useful to start by recapping briefly on the main points of
thetheoreticalframeworkwhichprovidesthecommonbasis.
Probation officers every day encounter serious problems
and dilemmas which are not readily explained. We find
ourselves powerless and ineffectual in the face of the social
andeconomicproblems affectingourclients;there appearto
beno realsolutions;anyimpactwecanmakefeelsbothminor
andmarginal;thesameproblemsrecur.Thehelpwecanoffer
individuals is limited, but even there we feel we are only
patchingupdeeperproblemsandat worstengaginginspecial
pleadingforourclientswhichmaydisadvantageothers.Many
probation officers experience a divergence between their
personal views and values and those they are expected to
uphold in theirwork- theyareexpectedto 'advertise' values
ofthrift, hardwork,constructiveuseofleisureandobedience
in aharshsocialandcriminaljusticesystemwhereinjusticeis
rife and discrimination endemic. They feel 'used' within the
system, cooling out problemswhichrequiremorebasicsolu
tions. Some of the structures of the job-conditions, restric
tionsandrequirements- seemto hamperthedevelopmentof
usefulworkingrelationshipswithclients.