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This book serves as a route map for psychologists and probation officers working in probation services. Outlines the strategic framework for psychological services across prisons and probation. Gives an up-to-date picture of some key emerging areas of applied psychological practice in probation settings. Covers the development of applied psychological services, court work, mental health, working with sex offenders, risk assessment, group work, cognitive skills, multi-agency public protection panels, and lifer assessments. The editors are Deputy Head and Head of Psychology for Prisons and Proba

The creation of an independent Probation Service in Northern Ireland involves the development of a probation perspective distinct and separate from that of the Social Services. Here, the Chief Probation Officer for the new Service considers the professional implications of the restructured administration.

The publication of 'Punishment, Custody and Community' has brought clearly within earshot some of the distant but longstanding rumblings about how much longer the Probation Service can hold onto its traditional base of social work values. Whilst recognising the inherently problematic and ambiguous nature of the term 'values', the authors offer one interpretation applicable to the Service and discuss some ways in which managers can promote the longevity of Service values by reflecting them in their own practice.

This paper will draw upon research and consultancy experience across a number of projects on risk assessment and management in the Probation Service between 1993 and 1999. The projects reflect a range of sponsors and funders, from central government bodies such as the Home Office and the Scottish Office, to professional, managerial and employment bodies such as the Association of Chief Officers of Probation and the Central Council of Probation Committees, to individual Probation Service areas. The projects have required engagement with different levels of staff and different vested interests, including the professional/union bodies representing the management and officer grades respectively, in addition to central government policy makers. All the projects have had an applied policy and practice focus. The paper begins with a review of current ethical and political dilemmas in research on offender risk assessment, and then contemporary responses to ethical dilemmas are critically reviewed, followed by an outline of 'practice guidance' for researchers. The paper concludes by arguing that researchers in the social arena should be subject to the same standards of defensible decision making as their counterparts in social care practice, and that essential to such defensibility is the transparent demonstration of the 'grounds' upon which ethical decisions are made.

An argument for the extension of existing Probation law and practice towards effective reparation, particularly as an alternative to unrealistic fines, based on current developments in Devon.

This article presents findings from an exploratory study of court work in two English Magistrates' courts which was conducted in 2017. The study involved two principal research methods: observation of the daily activities of court team members and semi-structured interviews with 21 members of the two teams, which took place towards the end of the research. The aim of this article is to provide an insight into contemporary probation work in Magistrates' courts, in the wake of two major reform programmes: Transforming Rehabilitation and Transforming Summary Justice. The findings of this study raise questions about the contemporary relevance of the 'narrative of decline' that has featured in previous research and commentary on court work, and further suggests that – whilst it is early days – the creation of specialist court teams has not inevitably led to the 'incorporation' of probation workers into the dominant court culture.