Probation Journal

Drama techniques can communicate powerfully with groups for offenders, allowing participants to see themselves in action in a direct yet unthreatening way. James Thompson of the Theatre in Prisons and Probation Research and Development Centre (TIPP) at the University of Manchester illustrates how experience with Greater Manchester Probation Service and in prisons in the North West can re-direct offenders' energies and encourage 'a search for change in both the individual and society'.

Malcolm Millar and Julian Buchanan, Lecturers in Social Work at the University of Liverpool, examine how the Probation Service has found itself adrift, uncertain about its future, despite the recent explosion in the prescriptivist detail governing its day to day activity. They argue that any positive future development will depend upon the Service's ability to reclaim its complex identity as social work agency working within the criminal justice system to reduce offending behaviour.

Responding positively to Hazel Kemshall's article on 'Risk in Probation Practice' (June 1995), Professor Herschel Prins of the Midlands Centre for Criminology and Criminal Justice at Loughborough University suggests a number of key areas of concern in weighing dangerousness, emphasises the importance of clear information about past behaviour, and suggests seven awkward but essential questions which can aid assessment.

Probation officers are routinely required to make risk assessments which affect both the liberty of the individual and the safety of the community, often with incomplete information and within limited time frames. Chris Tallant and Robert Strachan, respectively of West Yorkshire Probation Service and Bradford Social Services, examine some of the decision-making processes used by professionals under conditions of uncertainty and risk and suggest that an appreciation of the psychological concept of 'framing' can provide a pragmatic, useful assessment tool.

In a climate of insecurity and uncertainty for probation and social work, practitioners struggling to maintain good practice can feel confused and anxious about the changing terms of anti-discriminatory language. Cordell Pillay, a probation officer in South Yorkshire, seeks to unravel the recent complex history of zeal and ambiguity in terminology and the recent backlash against the quest to overcome oppressive discrimination.

Probation officers often feel uncertain how to respond when it comes to notice that male probationers and other supervisees are being violent to their women partners, where supervision has arisen for offending of a different nature. David Morran, Joint Co-ordinator of the CHANGE Programme ('men learning to end their violence against women'), University of Stirling, addresses some of the dilemmas in interpreting professional responsibilities and dealing with both victims and perpetrators.

Gill Hague and Ellen Malos, with Wendy Dear, Researchers with the Domestic Violence Research Group at the University of Bristol's School for Policy Studies, present preliminary findings from their investigation of the pay-offs and limitations of multi-agency initiatives to combat domestic violence and identify the mixed willingness within the Probation Service to contribute fully and draw benefit from collaboration.