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46 Prob. J. 2 (1999)

handle is hein.journals/probj46 and id is 1 raw text is: 11 1 W nWA LU U4 1 The Scarman report warned in the early 1980s that many black people believed racist white offenders could offend against them with impunity, without having to face a rigorous criminal justice response. The recently published resource pack for agencies working with racially motivated offenders, 'From Murmur to Murder' - to be reviewed in the June edition of Probation Journal - has received considerable publicity in the press and is evidence of the increasing commitment of probation services to a co-ordinated response to such offending. It notes that positively tackling such offenders is not only essential for reasons of ethics and public protection, but also - in an echo of Scarman's analysis of the riots - because it may help to limit resort to aggressive self defence (p.17) by young people who have lost faith in the ability of criminal justice agencies to protect them. Given this context, how do probation practitioners and others in the Criminal Justice System deal with people who express racist views? One of the central recommendations of the Home Office research study 'Perpetrators of Racial Harassment and Racial Violence' (see Probation Journal 45 (1) March 1998) was that criminal justice and other community agencies should adopt a pro-active approach to racist offending. It was envisaged that this would involve addressing the general attitudes of potential perpetrators of racial harassment and violence, with the aim of preventing them from actually committing racist offences. However, this report also suggested that, beyond invoking disciplinary procedures, probation workers were not ready to uncover or actively address the views of offenders expressing racist attitudes. So what has changed? Taking an optimistic view, it may be that leading to Stephen Lawrence's murder and the subsequent mishandling of the investigation will be a watershed, the development of more constructive responses to racially motivated crime by British criminal justice agencies. While the Police have come in for much criticism, the implications of this case spread wider, and include a need for a more focused approach by the Probation Service. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 includes new provisions entailing significantly higher penalties for racially aggravated assault, harassment and public order offences. Consequently, it is likely that probation staff will come into greater contact with such offenders. Yet, as this editions Reflections piece, Working With Racially Motivated Offenders, asks, are we ready for the increasing numbers of racist offenders on our caseloads following implementation of the Act? This short article tackles the heart of the debate amongst probation officers about the propriety of engaging with racist offenders and members of racist/fascist organisations. It suggests that we are far from ready for the challenge which the Lawrence inquiry is laying at the door of every agency which is in a position to reduce the prevalence of such crimes. The similarity of such issues to those raised in the ongoing debate on approaches to domestic violence (see Work With Men Who Are Violent To Their Partners in this edition), is striking. This Journal would welcome a similarly dynamic discourse on racially motivated offending, as well as other aspects of probation work in future. Finally, the next edition will see the long awaited extended Special Issue on mental disorder and offending and the launch of the new 'perfect bind' Journal, as the recent process in evolution in style and format is drawn to a close. It will be of much interest to people in all agencies working with mentally disordered offenders. As ever, contributions and comments relating to the contents of the current or other recent issues of Probation Journal are very welcome. 2

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