Working with minority ethnic communities Models of good practice

Includes bibliographical references. Title from coverAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:m03/12018 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Resettlement strategy South West Region

Title from coverAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:m03/20319 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

“The Others”: Sex Offenders’ Social Identities in Probation Approved Premises

Through reporting on an ethnographic study of a Probation Approved Premises, this article explores the informal social structures which shape life for sex offenders in hostels, and the significance of these in terms of social exclusion, support and the work of the institution. The findings illustrate how the practice of the hostel both demonises and reinforces the personal and social identity constructs of residents convicted of sexual offences to accord with the dominant discourse of ‘sex offender’. Of note, the article identifies how informal structural and cultural processes define sex offender residents as essentially different from other people

The place of the officer-offender relationship in assisting offenders to desist from crime

For decades, the relationship between the officer and offender (variously labelled as the ‘casework relationship’, the ‘supervisory relationship’ or ‘one-to-one work’) was the main channel for probation service interventions. In the modernized probation service in England and Wales, this relationship element has been marginalized, on a policy level at least, by accredited groupwork programmes and case management approaches involving referrals to specialist and other services. However, there are now promising signs that policy makers are re-instating the ‘relationship’ between the practitioner and offender as a core condition for changing the behaviour and social circumstances associated with recidivism. This article traces the factors behind the paradigm shift from casework (in its broadest sense) to case management (more recently termed ‘offender management’) in order to identify why an element of practice once regarded as vital became discredited. It then briefly draws on findings in the mental health field and desistance research to relocate the relationship element within a practice model that is focused on supporting desistance from crime

Drug testing and court review hearings: uses and limitations

The ability of the UK criminal justice system to divert drug-dependent offenders into treatment has been enhanced during recent years. Despite the rapid expansion of such coercive measures, research findings to date are equivocal about their impact. This article draws on qualitative data from in-depth interviews with professionals and those mandated to treatment by the courts to assess the uses and limitations of two defining features of court-ordered drug treatment in Britain and elsewhere – drug testing and court review hearings – as a means of promoting and monitoring compliance with the conditions of these disposals