Qualitative Inquiry

Recent government inspections have highlighted the importance of considering neurodiversity across the criminal justice system to ensure that neurodivergent individuals are not at a disadvantage. Community sentence treatment requirements (CSTRs) are treatment options available to sentencers as part of a community or suspended sentence. These aim to address underlying concerns that may contribute to offending behaviour. Recent work has looked how to increase accessibility of CSTRs to neurodivergent individuals. The recommendations stemming from this work are described.

This paper presents findings from an exploratory study undertaken with Department of Probation personnel in Thailand. The goal was to examine staff perspectives, experiences and practices regarding the support of women (formerly imprisoned for breaching illicit drug law) on electronically monitored (EM) parole. According to government rhetoric, EM parole should be rehabilitative, assist reintegration and operate per human rights standards and norms. This includes gender-responsiveness, as delineated in the United Nations Bangkok Rules. Yet, gender was mostly elucidated as immaterial and at best, women received nominal support from a probation service labouring ‘from the heart’ with limited funding and high workloads.

This article attempts to widen the debate about the future of probation by way of an exploration of the role of probation pracademics within the context of the Professional Qualification in Probation (PQiP). Reflecting upon our own experiences of probation education (as former probation practitioners, now PQiP tutors and probation researchers), we draw upon transformative pedagogy to argue that pracademics are ideally placed to influence and shape the future of probation as a distinct occupation by enactment of three crucial functions within probation education: (re)formulation of probation values, building bridges between theory and praxis and protection of the ‘honourable profession’.

This article reflects on ‘Safe Together’, an 8-week therapeutic art programme for children impacted by parental imprisonment. Eleven children participated (7–13 years). There were multiple aims; (1) upskilling the children as artists and providing them with tools to create art at home; (2) inviting them to use art to self-sooth; (3) providing a safe-space to discuss experiences of parental imprisonment; (4) inviting them to share their work in an exhibition, (5) creating legacy resources illustrated with their artwork. Resources were created to increase awareness about parental imprisonment, and support other children with lived experience in the form of an illustrated booklet. A thematic evaluation was embedded throughout the programme to gather qualitative feedback about the children's experiences of parental imprisonment and creating art-work. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid Model was the central theoretical framework used to consider likely enablers of success in this programme. Children also completed a pre- and post-strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ), and parent/caregiver comments were collected to further an understanding of the wider impact of the sessions. Notably, the art exhibition planned to celebrate the cumulation of this programme was cancelled as it coincided with the first UK National Lockdown due to COVID 19. This article reflects on the adjustments made in light of this. In sum, ‘Safe Together’ was considered a useful means for these children to express themselves; unintentionally, the programme also provided a source of support as they entered into lockdown. This article offers recommendations to those considering offering therapeutic art programmes for children with adverse childhood experiences.

This article presents findings from a major longitudinal research project of probation in England and Wales, arguing that the process of its ‘unification’ (re-nationalisation) continues to be a painful process whose end state remains elusive. Having previously articulated how practitioners experienced unification as ‘painful but necessary’, here, using the imagery of a journey, we argue that the speed and direction of travel have encountered a more perilous trajectory than expected as high workloads and staffing challenges have persisted. Second, we argue that enduring challenges in bedding in new working practices – and building the confidence of new and existing colleagues to deliver them – have acted as ‘hazards’ that have needed careful navigation. Third, we argue that staff experience a sense of individual and collective operational vulnerability, in the face of the relentless demands placed upon them. In conclusion, we identify a series of forks in the road that prompt profound questions about the delivery of probation services now and in the future.

Assessing and managing risk is seen as a key task for probation staff and its practice is outlined by the Risk of Serious Harm Guidance. This comment piece asks whether this guidance is always applied with reference to historic or non-recent sexual offending. Using a specimen case, the process is outlined and discussed. The reasons for false positive assessments are considered as are the consequences in terms of legitimacy, desistance and resources.

Undercover: Can Probation keep us safe? – the Panorama programme which was shown on BBC television in May 2024 employed an undercover journalist to investigate the quality of supervision provided within an approved premises. Over the past three decades, public debates that often follow apparent failures to protect the public from individuals under probation supervision do not necessarily illuminate the complexities of public protection but, it is argued, the particular approach adopted by the Panorama programme was counter-productive to the wider public understanding of the work of the probation service. The approach, content and ideological positioning of Can Probation keep us safe? obscured rather than enlightened the debate about probation's role in rehabilitation and the assessment and management of risk in protecting the public.

We approach this essay through a unique observation of being on both sides of the criminal justice system as prisoners and drugs addicts to transitioning into professionals and educators within and around the criminal justice system. We argue that the concept of rehabilitation has – through the neo-liberal capitalist social system – evolved into a Rehabilitation Industry. The essay argues that by defining the concept of the Rehabilitation Industry, society can ask critical questions of how social media, marketing, branding, the public facing performance as well as the dubious claims of rehabilitation is taking place. The principal argument within the essay is that, although often obscured, a fusion of the contemporary digital landscape and capitalism is creating a criminal justice system that harms justice involved people, whilst simultaneously the industry of ‘rehabilitation’ generates a multitude of capitals – economic, cultural, and political – for a whole range of stakeholders – not least those of us with ‘lived experience’ now occupying the justice reform stage.

This article aims to explore the roles that Lithuanian probation officers associate with their profession, the differences between their ideal and actual roles, and the conflicts they encounter in their daily work with probation clients. The research was conducted using both quantitative and qualitative methods, including a survey of 129 individuals and interviews with 20 probation officers. Results from the survey showed that Lithuanian probation officers tend to associate their profession with control and balancing roles. Interviews revealed that probation officers associate their ideal roles with control or resocialisation functions but accept these contrasting roles as a professional necessity. The study also found that probation officers face a high workload related to paperwork, which suggests an actual role as a bureaucrat. Nevertheless, this role is not desired by the officers and is rejected. Additionally, the study revealed that probation officers experience internal conflicts related to the different expectations of their clients and the management of the probation service. This article argues that the organisation's attitude and requirements influence the gap between the ideal and actual roles of probation officers and orient their actual roles towards bureaucratic and control functions.

Research has shown that many women involved in the criminal justice system have prior experiences of trauma and victimisation. This paper, based on qualitative narrative research with mothers, identifies the specific gendered trauma trajectories of mothers with experience of custody in England. This includes experiences of domestic abuse, removal of children and issues with perinatal mental health. In many instances, these issues are closely interrelated adding further layers of cumulative impact to the trauma experienced. Drawing on trauma theory and pathways theory, these experiences are then analysed and suggestions for mitigating the impact of this trauma are proposed.