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11 Eur. J. Probation 1 (2019)

handle is hein.journals/eurjp11 and id is 1 raw text is: 



Original Article                                                     E   J

                                                            European Journal of Probation
                                                                 2019, Vol. I1(1)1  13
Mission       Impossible? The                                    © The Author(s) 2019
                                                                Article reuse guidelines:
professional isation of Austrian                         sagepub..../jo.... s-permissions
                                                         DOI: 10.1177/2066220319852372
probation         between desistance                       journa.sagepul.som/home/eip

and what works                                                      OSAGE




Veronika Hofinger
Institut fuer Rechts- und Kriminalsoziologie, Wien, Austria



Abstract
Over the last few years, desistance research has gained importance as an alternative
to the risk-based what works approach. When significant proponents speak of a new
desistance-paradigm arising, it has to be borne in mind that their analyses focus mainly
on the practice of probation in the UK where dramatic restructuring and cost-cutting
were implemented under the what works label. This paper presents the results of a
research project investigating the implementation of a cognitive behavioural programme
in probation in Austria. This programme, developed on the basis of what works and
Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR)-principles, is assessed from a desistance perspective.
Probationers themselves reflect on what helped them to go straight and what role the
programme played in the desistance process. It is shown that the what works- and the
desistance-perspective may complement each other under specific circumstances, even
if certain conceptual differences remain.


Keywords
Cognitive behavioural programme, desistance, probation, professionalisation,
recidivism, risk, what works



Introduction

The Austrian probation service is currently undergoing a fundamental transformation. In
the post-war period and the golden age of the conservative-corporatist model of the wel-
fare state (Esping-Andersen, 1990), probation in Austria was based on psychoanalytic
concepts and focused primarily on the relationship between the probationer and their
probation officer, allowing freedom in the choice of methods and approaches. At the

Corresponding author:
Veronika Hofinger, Institut fuer Rechts- und Kriminalsoziologie, Museumstr. 5, Wien 1070, Austria.
Email: veronika.hofinger@irks.at

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