Piloting different approaches to personalised offender management in the English criminal justice system

Various approaches to personalisation are well-established in the UK social care sector and are now starting to ‘travel’ to other sectors. In this paper we report findings from an evaluation of a pilot to test elements of personalisation in the management of offenders in probation services within the English criminal justice system. Following a review of evidence from social care, three different approaches to personalised-practice were developed and tested on a small-scale in three separate sites. The evaluation finds that all three approaches were implemented reasonably successfully, but challenges were identified including that personalised approaches are more time-consuming, that staff need support to exercise professional discretion and that balancing greater choice with managing criminogenic risk requires new ways of conceptualising the relationship between case manager and service user. Overall, ‘deeper’ approaches to personalisation, such as co-production, will take time to emerge. This paper makes two important contributions to the debate on personalisation in public services. First, it addresses the question of how transferable the concept of personalisation is from the social care sector to other sectors in the UK, in this case the criminal justice system. Secondly, it outlines a methodology for developing and evaluating personalisation pilots, prior to a wider roll-out.     

Videoing Supervision: Messages for Probation Practice

This paper reports on a PhD study, investigating the supervision of women service users (WSUs), by probation officers (POs) based on video data of one-to-one supervision sessions. The research identifies competing agendas of probation in England and Wales – one side emphasises punishment, whilst the other encourages humanistic, relationship-based practices. POs, routinely juggling these opposing expectations, appreciate traditional probation values of giving the WSU a voice and embracing psychodynamic approaches, to provide structure and support in confronting the complexities of officer/service user interactions. However, the data show that driven by managerialist enforcement requirements, it is the punitive discourse which is more frequently translated into practice. Organisational pressures, feelings about the person opposite, the offence or the individual’s background can manifest as conscious or unconscious micro-messages or masking messages. Just as SUs put on masks to disguise negative emotions or feel powerful, so too do POs; POs recognise masks and deceptions in SUs and, similarly, SUs are aware of this dynamic with POs. The research identifies practitioner ambivalence to certain narratives, particularly sexual abuse or poor mental health and, it is argued, reflective supervision is needed to deconstruct difficult personal and professional issues.     

对《劳动合同法》中辞退制度的研究及思考

劳动合同解除是劳动合同法律制度中的一个重要环节,也是劳动法的一个重大问题。特别是用人单位的单方解除行为,不以对方的意志为转移,如果解除不当,就会损害劳动者的利益,破坏合同的效力和尊严。本文旨在深入研究劳动合同的辞退制度,以期更好地保护劳动者的权利,帮助企业建立稳定、和谐的劳动关系,促进社会公平正义,最终实现社会和谐。     

恢复性司法视域中的少年暂缓起诉

少年司法中的暂缓起诉具有恢复性司法的诸个要素,在理念与实践特征上都与恢复性司法具有很高的契合度,可以说是审查起诉阶段的一种恢复性司法方案。当代中国有些地方曾经出现过少年暂缓起诉的探索,形成了良好的实践经验。由于少年暂缓起诉具有修复社会关系,保护、教育和挽救罪错少年,以及有效进行审前分流的功能,应在现有实践基础上使其制度化,形成一种恢复性的审前程序分流机制。     

论我国非监禁刑罚制度的完善

我国现行的非监禁刑罚制度亟待完善。一方面，在管制刑中可引入社区监管的内容；缓刑的形式町更丰富，放宽其适用条件，扩大其适用后果，以促进其在司法实践中的广泛适用；通过假释观念的转变、适用条件的放宽、假释权的重新配置以及假释程序的完善等措施的同步推进，充分发挥假释在实现刑罚目的上的特殊功用。另一方面，还可增新的非监禁刑罚制度，如社区劳动等。     

我国社区矫正制度的现状与思考

行刑社会化是当今世界行刑制度发展的必然趋向。然而。在我国长期的行刑实践中。由于受多种因素的制约和影响.行刑方式社会化程度明显不足的问题尚十分突出。面对日益开放的现代社会,近年来.我国受西方行刑社会化理念的影响和启迪,司法机关和行刑机关亦开始尝试进行行刑社会化方式的试点工作。并已取得了初步成效。本文描述了当前我国实行社区矫正的现状。从试点工作来看,社区矫正工作取得了很大的成功,但是试点工作刚刚开始,工作中仍然存在很多的问题值得研究。     

经济转型中的劳动合同期限和试用期

利用最新的调查数据,研究了经济转型过程中的劳动合同期限和试用期.研究发现,员工的教育程度和工作经验等个人特征,企业在产业分包体系中的层级和应用的创新性工作实践的数量等企业特征,显著地影响了企业在劳动合同期限和试用期上的决策;经济转型提升了企业雇佣决策的合理性;劳动力市场改革、劳动力市场供求状况的变化以及产品市场竞争程度的加剧是导致劳动合同期限短期化的主要原因.     

试用期制度的经济博弈分析和运用机制

运用经济数学的分析方法证明了试用期制度存在的必要性及运行存在的缺陷,并给出了一些建议.另外从博弈论的角度对试用期制度进行了初步分析,即在不完全信息条件下筛选人才试用期制度发挥着一定的作用,但一些技术细节问题往往被企业所忽视.     

论假释的扩大适用

中国是世界上假释适用率较低的国家之一 ,这种状况不仅抑制了假释功能的有效发挥 ,而且给监管工作和罪犯顺利回归社会带来了一系列负面影响。为了进一步发挥假释制度的功能 ,必须加快假释的扩大适用     

徘徊在公正与功利之间的我国缓刑--对我国缓刑立法与司法的反思

被宣告缓刑的罪犯如果在缓刑考验期内没有被撤销缓刑,则原判刑罚不再执行,因此,缓刑是对有罪必罚、罚当其罪的反动,具有与生俱来的不公正性。这就要求立法和司法部门在制定和适用缓刑的时候,应当注意缓和、淡化缓刑的这一缺陷。然而,我国立法机关和司法部门并没有在这方面作出必要的努力,以致缓刑适用在我国经常展现出不公正的一面。缓刑的主要价值和目的均在于实现特殊预防,然而,一些法院在适用缓刑的时候,却经常忽视缓刑的这一价值和目的,致使缓刑适用并没有有效实现特殊预防的目的。为了充分发挥缓刑的功能,同时防止缓刑的适用过于随意以致丧失公正性,建议将缓刑适用条件明确化;增设缓刑适用的程序性规定;建立健全缓刑考察机构,将缓刑考验落到实处;增设关于缓刑负担的规定。