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8 Eur. J. Probation 3 (2016)

handle is hein.journals/eurjp8 and id is 1 raw text is: Article EJP European Journal of Probation 2016, Vol. 8(I) 3-15 'A difficult trip, I think': The Author(s) 2016 Reprints and permissions: The end days of the probation sagepub.co.ujournasPermnissi .nav DOI: 10.1177/2066220316637389 service in England and W ales? ejp.sagepub.co OSAGE George Mair Liverpool Hope University, UK Abstract The probation service has been a key part of the criminal justice process for more than 100 years. It deals with more offenders than the prison service; it is more successful than prison in terms of reconviction rates, and it is considerably cheaper than prison. Its advantages as a court sentence seem to be only too clear. Yet, prison remains the gold standard for punishment in England and Wales while the probation service is facing a bleak future. How has it come about that the existence of probation is now under serious threat? That a vital public service is faced with extinction? This article explores the issues that have led to the possibility that probation's days are numbered. Keywords Criminal justice policy, probation service, public sector decline Introduction Just over 10 years ago, between November 2000 and June 2002, I interviewed 47 Chief Probation Officers (CPOs) as part of an ESRC-funded project that aimed to explore the role of CPOs as managers, their social and educational backgrounds, their attitudes and views about the probation service, and their perceptions with regard to community sen- tences. In concluding the interviews, I asked for their views about the future of the service and, despite the fact that there was a feeling that probation had been on the receiving end of rather too many initiatives recently, and that perhaps the most signifi- cant- the creation of a National Probation Service - was hardly underway (and thus its full implications remained unclear), respondents were generally surprisingly optimistic. They wanted the service to become a fully recognised player in the criminal justice Corresponding author: George Mair, Professor of Criminal Justice, Liverpool Hope University, Hope Park, Liverpool, LI 6 9JD, UK. Email: mairg@hope.ac.uk

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