Victim-Offender Mediation in the Italian Juvenile Justice System: The Role of the Social Worker

Correspondence to Anna Costanza Baldry, Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, via dei Marsi, 78, 00185 Rome, Italy Summary Mediation, according to the restorative justice approach, balancesthe victims' needs against holding offenders responsible forthe harm caused and requiring them to make reparation for it.Victim-offender mediation in the Italian juvenile justice systemis not, as yet, widely implemented. Social workers, employedby the Juvenile Criminal Justice Department, are the only professionalsinvolved in mediation. Results from a national survey conducted with social workerswho are responsible for victim-offender mediation as part oftheir probation duties, show that mediation programmes remainlimited and unstructured. Individual, locally based experiences,not equally distributed around the country and mainly involvingpetty crimes, indicate that in most cases primary attentionis paid to the young offender and that the victim's interestsare not considered. Social workers claim that, although theyperceive the advantages of a restorative justice approach tocrime, they lack the skills as well as the time to undertakethis duty adequately. The research findings also address thepotential biases of offering mediation programmes as part ofa probation order, thereby affecting the independence and neutralityof mediation. This risk can be avoided if social workers actingas mediators are thoroughly trained, as in the case study ofattempted murder presented below. The case study reported shows,moreover, that mediation can be successfully undertaken evenwith serious offences and that both the victim and the offendercan benefit from it. Issues related to the implications andsocial policy impact of mediation as a social work practiceare also considered.     

Probation Training and the Community Justice Curriculum

Summary In England and Wales the Diploma in Social Work was supersededby the more specialized Diploma in Probation Studies in 1997/98as a basic qualification for probation officers. It combinesacademic and practical learning in the form of a two-year undergraduatedegree and a twelve-module National Vocational Qualification(NVQ). There was considerable professional opposition to thisat the time and opinion remains mixed as to how justifiablethe change was, and how successful it has been. This articleseeks to defend the principle of combining the academic andthe practical but, via a critique of two recent commentarieson the Diploma in Probation Studies, questions whether the ideaof academic teaching on a professional qualification has beenadequately conceptualized and implemented. It argues againstteaching that is governed uncritically by the protocols andproblematics of pure academic disciplines, and insists uponthe use of material which is selected and tailored to the intellectualneeds of working probation officers. It outlines a better conceptualizationof what a ‘community justice curriculum’ might looklike, based in part on the approach taken to probation trainingat the University of Birmingham.     

Probation and Social Exclusion

The paper begins with a brief discussion of the value of the term "social exclusion", before drawing on quantitative (survey) and qualitative (interview) evidence to suggest that young people on the caseload of the probation service are, in general, excluded from the full range of social goods. The basis of this exclusion is not only in poverty and unemployment, but in social and personal insecurity, lack of access to the benefits of education and training, and housing and health problems. It is argued that despite their exclusion these young people have predominantly conventional hopes and aspirations, and that there is therefore no reason to believe that a programme for their social inclusion and reintegration would be doomed to fail. The paper then reviews some aspects of present practice in probation which may tend to increase rather than reduce the exclusionary pressure on those with whom the service works, by stigmatizing and marginalizing them through a narrow focus on their offending. It concludes by suggesting strategies for more inclusionary and integrative practice in the areas of anti-custodialism, restorative justice and reintegrative shaming, community safety, and help with access to education, training and health services. The paper considers what local inter-agency structures are needed to support intensive work on offending, and sketches some characteristics of a probation service committed to social inclusion.     

Sentencing and Recidivism: an Analysis by Personality Tyoe

Summary This article describes some personality and other characteristicsof a sample of 230 male offenders in London, and relates thesevariables to recommendations made by probation officers, sentencespassed by the courts, and the outcome of penal treatment interms of further convictions. The probation officers in thestudy were more likely to recommend probation for introvertedneurotics than any other personality type, and once on probationthis group was the least likely to be reconvicted. Offenderswho were extravert attracted the largest proportion of recommendationsfor custodial sentences, and on probation the extraverts whoscored low on neuroticism were most likely to be reconvicted.A tentative explanation of the findings is offered in termsof a probation 'treatment success hierarchy'     

Concepts of Risk in Relation to Organizational Structure and Functioning within the Personal Social Services and Probation

The main argument of this paper is that personal social services, including probation, at both a policy and practice level are increasingly focused on issues of risk. We postulate that risk assessment, risk management, the monitoring of risk and risk-taking itself are rapidly becoming the dominant raison d'être of such agencies, thus supplanting ideologies of meeting need or welfare provision. In turn they have become key to priority setting and rationing, the basis for organizational rationales and structures, the central focus for professional activity and accountability, and measuring quality. Thus an analysis of risk as an organizing principle offers fundamental insights into the rapidly changing nature and organization of statutory social work and probation. There is very little literature that focuses on risk across the spectrum of services. Risk analysis, as such, is most developed in the criminal justice and child protection fields. However, the mental health literature, being centrally preoccupied with notions of dangerousness, is quickly adopting risk terminology. Apart from work on elder abuse, literature on child welfare and community care has been framed in terms of need, issues of risk only coming to the fore around potential admission to residential care. We contend that as issues of rationing and accountability become more dominant, so do concerns with risk. Thus we predict the extension of notions of risk as central organizing principles throughout the social services and probation.     

Probation and Social Work

The paper considers the representation of probation themes inthe British Journal of Social Work (BJSW) since the early 1990s,and reviews developments in probation policy and practice sincethen, with a focus on the relationship between probation practiceand social work. It argues that emerging research evidence supportsthe view that effective probation practice is likely to be informedby values and skills that are recognizably within the traditionof social work, and concludes that despite pressures to abandonsocial work as a basis for probation practice, it is not obviouswhat the alternative could be.     

‘His mam,my dad,my girlfriend,loads of people used to bring him up’: the value of social support for (ex) offender fathers

This research analyses key findings from qualitative research conducted with (ex) offender fathers and their probation officers. This paper focuses on the critical role of family and social support for (ex) offender fathers who seek to build and maintain relationships with their children. The research reported in this paper shows that the men receive social support, both formal and informal from a wide ranging and complex network of family, friends and practitioners, which facilitates and enables their commitment to fathering. Drawing on social support theory, I argue that identification of support networks recognizes the productive possibilities of vulnerable families which constitute a source of strength and connection to be nurtured in contexts of adversity. This strengths‐based paradigm advocates the need to identify and facilitate family, friendship and professional networks in the context of social work with offenders and their families.     

Social Advocacy for Equal Marriage: The Politics of "Rights" and the Psychology of "Mental Health"

Using the contemporary issue of equal access to marriage for same-sex couples as a case study, we examine two distinctive frameworks within which social advocacy may be pursued. We argue that when we speak as psychologists, we use a discourse of mental health; when we speak as social activists, we use a discourse of human rights and justice. Although these two frameworks may converge in supporting equal access to marriage, they represent radically different ways of understanding inequality and advocating for social change. A discourse of mental health focuses on psychological damage or deficit (caused, for example, by the social exclusion of particular groups or individuals. A discourse of rights asserts universally-applicable principles of equality, justice, freedom, and dignity. Further, the paradigmatic framework of psychology as an approach to understanding human beings in the world seems fundamentally antithetical to the conceptual framework of human rights, as a basis for social justice.     

Using a Reconviction Predictor to Make Sense of Reconviction Rates in the Probation Service

Correspondence to John Wilkinson, Research Officer, Inner London Probation Service, Lansdale House, 57 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6AJ. Summary Reducing offending is a main aim of the probation service, butfew mechanisms exist to monitor how this is achieved. This paperdescribes how information about reconvictions can provide routinefeedback about effectiveness in combating offending. Using areconviction predictor, outcome, in terms of reconviction rate,can be evaluated against predicted outcome. A predictor wasvalidated for use in Inner London using case records. Informationwas obtained retrospectively about offenders at the start oftheir probation orders, and about subsequent reconvictions overthirteen months of probation. The predictor was found to haveconsiderable predictive power. The predictor was piloted forroutine use by probation officers, and a customized versionof the predictor was developed. The research is now moving intoa third stage, of developing an end of probation order returnwhich will supply information about reconvictions. Issues relatingto the use of reconvictions as a performance indicator, aondquestions of implementation, are discussed.     

The Balance between Care and Control in Probation: A Research Note

Summary The study explores the probation experience of thirty male probationersand their probation officers and their perceptions of it Traditionallyprobation work is often analysed in terms of a polarity or continuumbetween care and control or treatment and punishment. The relevanceof these and other ideological constructs is challenged by empiricaldata which suggests that the probation service is mainly concernedwith providing relief and service to clients who face difficultenvironmental and social pressures. It is need, rather thantreatment or control, which dominates the probation process.     

A 'Missed Opportunity' Re-assessed: the Influence of the Day Training Centre Experiment on the Criminal Justice System and Probation Policy and Practice

Correspondence to Maurice Vanstone, Department of Social Policy and Applied Social Studies, University of Wales College of Swansea, Swansea SA2 8PP. Summary In 1973 four probation day training centres were set up in Liverpool,London, Sheffield and Pontypridd as part of an experimentalproject which focused on providing a community based trainingprogramme for offenders who would otherwise have been imprisoned.The experiment, which lasted from 1973 to 1981, has never beenproperly evaluated. This paper, whilst not purporting to fillthat gap, is an attempt to critically review its significancewithin the context of the criminal justice system from botha policy and practice perspective. It further reflects on thereasons for the formulation of the training centre model asa community based semi-institution. It examines its originalpurposes of diverting offenders from custody and helping them,against the charge that they not only failed to achieve thosepurposes but had the unintended consequence of drawing inappropriatepeople into a burgeoning network of state control. Throughoutthe paper a distinction is drawn between the day training centresand the numerous day centres that were established in the probationservice during the late 1970s and the 1980s.     

Partnership between the probation service and voluntary sector organizations

Summary This paper considers the development of inter-agency partnershipsbetween the probation service and voluntary sector organizationsin the early 1990s in England and Wales and reports the resultsof research by the author and their implications for youth justicearrangements outlined in the recent 1998 Crime and DisorderAct. The article outlines the development of probation partnershipsand the impact of changes to probation services, voluntary organizationsand service users which include: a shift towards purchaser-providerand contract-based arrangements; voluntary organizations takingon a role to work with involuntary clients; and the introductionof a discourse on partnerships which marginalizes small, informalvoluntary groups. These findings are then considered in relationto the Crime and Disorder Partnerships for crime preventionwhich form a crucial part of the 1988 Criminal Justice Act.The Crime and Disorder Partnerships have less emphasis on amanagerialist agenda but offer no extra resources and this articlesuggests that they may therefore not result in significant benefitsfor agencies working with young offenders.     

Research as Social Action in the Aftermath of Hurricane Andrew

SUMMARY

A study conducted 14 months after Hurricane Andrew examined the long term impact of this natural disaster on the homeless in the hardest hit areas of South Florida. The effects of a natural disaster on the homeless has not been studied in the past. In addition, this study is presented to illustrate a model of social action research. The foundations for the principles of this model are rooted in the best scientific and social justice traditions. The principles are introduced and described using research methodologies that were utilized in this disaster study. How the findings contributed to changes in policy, procedure, and practice are highlighted.     

Working with Female Offenders: Beyond 'Alternatives to Custody'?

Correspondence to Anne Worrall, Lecturer in Social Work, Department of Applied Social Studies and Social Work, University of Keele, Keele, Staffs. ST5 5BG. Summary Developments in the Probation Service in the 1980s have beendominated by the rhetoric of ‘Alternatives to Custody’.At the same time, there has been an increasing awareness ofgender biases within the criminal justice system. This articlereports on research into the attitudes of probation officersand female offenders and explores the implications of thesefor future work with women by the Service.     

The Ideology, Policy and Practice of Adult Probation Service in Israel

Summary This paper presents the findings of a study that sought to identifythe dominant characteristics of the Adult probation servicein Israel. An examination of the professional ideology of probationofficers, the policy and the practice of the service indicatedthat the probation service in Israel tends to emphasize theintra-psychic treatment model. According to this model, crimeis rooted in psychological causes and thus the goal of probationis to generate intra-psychic change in the offender. As such,probation officers are primarily engaged in therapy aimed atidentifying the individual pathology of the probationeer andat treating it. This model of probation differs significantlyfrom that which characterizes probation services in the UK andthe USA. Various explanations are offered for this.     

Perceptions of Staff Supervision in the Probation Service

Summary This study collates and comments upon the views of main-gradeprobation officers in West Yorkshire on the subject of staffsupervision. It shows that a majority of officers hold positiveopinions about supervision, provided that it is related to assistingthem in their main task of helping clients. The use of supervisionas a means of administrative control over standards of workis acceptable only to a minority of officers. The article includesa detailed analysis of the content of officers' own definitionsof supervision from which many examples are quoted. It showsalso the degree of importance accorded to supervision in relationto other probation officer and senior probation officer functions.     

Social Work Ideologies in the Probation Service

Summary The research described in this paper was an attempt to exploresome aspects of social work ideology in the probation service.We were particularly interested to identify the extent to whichprobation officers subscribed to certain ‘treatment model’assumptions about criminal behaviour. The project was designedas a small-scale study in depth of probation officers' socialinquiry practices. The data-collection methods used for thiswere a combination of depth interviews with probation officerswho also completed self-administered questionnaires. We foundthat some probation officers appeared to subscribe to ‘treatmentmodel‘ ideals more than others, but that all probationofficers were treatment orientated towards some of their casesand not to others. Their treatment preferences seems to relateto the seriousness of the offender's criminal history and personalproblems and the recommendation that was being made. Some ofthe implications of these findings for social work practicewere discussed.     

Involvement in the Juvenile Justice System for African American Adolescents: Examining Associations with Behavioral Health Problems

While researchers have found that African American youth experience higher levels of juvenile justice involvement at every system level (arrest, sentencing, and incarceration) relative to their other ethnic counterparts, few studies have explored how juvenile justice involvement and number of contacts might be correlated with this broad range of problems. A convenience sample of 638 African American adolescents living in predominantly low-income, urban communities participated in a survey related to juvenile justice involvement. Major findings using logistic regression models indicated that adolescents who reported juvenile justice system involvement versus no involvement were 2.3 times as likely to report mental health problems, substance abuse, and delinquent or youth offending behaviors. Additional findings documented that the higher the number of juvenile justice system contacts, the higher the rates of delinquent behaviors, alcohol and marijuana use, sex while high on drugs, and commercial sex. These findings suggest that identifying and targeting youth who have multiple juvenile justice system contacts, especially those in low-resourced communities for early intervention services, may be beneficial. Future research should examine whether peer network norms might mediate the relationships between juvenile justice involvement and youth problem behaviors.     

The probation service and the press: the curious incident of the dog in the night-time

Correspondence to: Meryl Aldridge, School of Social Studies, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD. Summary The preoccupation with adverse media coverage in many sectorsof social work is not shared by the probation service. On thecontrary: increasing resources are being devoted to trying toraise its profile in both national and local news media. Basedon an analysis of press coverage and interviews with staff involvedin probation external relations work, the paper opens with anexamination of a number of incidents which might have been expectedto result in unsolicited negative coverage but did not get takenup. What parallels can be drawn between national press reportingof the controversial child murder trials involving local authoritysocial services and the only probation equivalent: the ColinEvans case? Pro-active news management by the service both locallyand nationally is then discussed and, in the final section,the likely success of this strategy given the existing mediatreatment of the probation service is considered.     

Understandings of environmental injustice and sustainability in marginalized communities: A qualitative inquiry in Nevada

As eco‐social work practice and scholarship continues to grow, multiple frameworks are emerging to help guide the work. In this study, we interviewed 59 people affected by environmental injustice. Participants identified components within both environmental injustice and sustainability, as well as gaps that these models individually do not support. Therefore, we suggest that merging environmental justice with sustainability through centering justice (a component within environmental justice), and also finding solutions through technological advances (a component within sustainability), may best support these communities. In addition, the participants discussed the need for support, which social workers can provide.