![handle is hein.journals/probj50 and id is 1 raw text is:
Probation Journal Editorial
The Journal of Community and Criminal Justice
Copyright © 2003 NAFO Vol 50(1): 5-6
[0264-5505(200303)50:1;5-6;031973]
www.napo.org.uk
www.sagepublications.com
Criminal justice reform and probation
L the press release accompanying the publication of the new Criminal Justice Bill
November 2002, the Home Secretary stressed the need for the criminal justice
system to be 'responsive to the communities it serves' and, not for the first time,
talked of the need for 'radical reform . . . to restore public faith in the criminal
justice system'. The Bill incorporates much of the thinking evident in Robin Auld's
review of the criminal courts and John Halliday's review of sentencing (see
'Research &Reports', Probation Journal 48 (3), pp. 221-2). The recommendations
o f this latter report in particular are likely to have an enormous impact o n the work
of the probation service. If they are implemented, according to the review team's
own estimates, it could mean an increase in the prison population of between
3000 and 6000 and an additional 80,000 offenders under probation supervision
at any one time. Notwithstanding the other merits of the Halliday recommen-
dations, this is a worrying prospect at a time when, in real terms, probation
resources have been diminishing.
In this challenging context, a number of the articles in this edition examine the
impacton the probation service ofthe ongoing reform ofthe criminaljustice system,
and grapple with the part which a reconfigured service might play within it
The crucial issue of resources is considered in some detail in Rod Morgan's
Thinking about the demand for probation services. This article asks some search-
ing questions about the role which the probation service has itself played in the
'up-tariffing' of low risk offenders and the increased prison population which has
followed. It argues that in order for resources to be directed away from the low
riskoffenders who are 'silting up' probation caseloads, the probation service must
be more vociferous in informing sentencers about its work. The author suggests
that an unambiguous acceptance within probation service culture that sentencers
- not offenders, the public or any other party - are the core users of probation
services, would be a good starting point
From a greater critical distance, Judith Rumgay's Drug treatment and offender
rehabilitation: Reflections on evidence, effectiveness and exclusion argues that
the probation service might usefully take heed of the move away from medical
model interventions in the drug treatment field. This article argues that the pro-
liferation of diverse interventions for tackling drug use contrasts sharply with the
5](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/probj50&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most