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22 Prob. J. 1 (1975)

handle is hein.journals/probj22 and id is 1 raw text is: 




probation


journal

PUBLISHED  BY THE  NATIONAL  ASSOCIATION   OF PROBATION   OFFICERS
EDITED  BY LESLIE HERBERT,  MBE,  MA


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COMMENT


Cost-effectiveness
Fieldworkers  and  research workers
are  uneasy bed-mates, perhaps  not
the  least reason being the lengthy
gestation period before their union
produces  any  results. Nevertheless,
sometimes the fruits of research are
worth waiting for and in this context,
we  note with  interest three recent
Home Office research reports on
Social Work  in Prison, Impact, and
Social Work   in  the Environment.
Social Work  in  Prison is reviewed
later in this issue. This report will
help welfare officers really to believe
in themselves and  should make  the
prisons sit up and take notice.
  The  IMPACT   experiment has been
the subject of a previous article, and
is also considered in a further article
in this issue.
  Social Work  in  the Environment
takes  its place  alongside Perry's
appraisal of social inquiry reportsby
placing traditional areas of  work
under   the  hyper-critical research
microscope-and   we  all know   the
feelings that Perry has aroused! In
short, this particular Home  Office
report demonstrates that the ability
of probation officers to alleviate the
environmental stresses that had con-
tributed to their client's criminality
was slight.
  It should, however, be noticed that
the  survey was  made   in 1964-66,


when  individual casework techniques
were  being used perhaps more  than
at any other time. Since then, various
experiments have led to much  more
community    involvement,  which
may  show very different results.
  .It has been observed elsewhere that
these  latest Home  Office research
reports show  that probation officers
are most  successful in the area of
work which is most unpopular among
the Service  as a whole-and least
effective in the sphere of work which
is generally most  popular  and  in
vogue.
  One  thing is certain: for too long,
probation officers have been credited
on  a subjective level with doing a
wonderful  job. The  critical docu-
ments referred to here will surely be
the first of many which will ruthlessly
examine our  cost-effectiveness.

Crime  Prevention
NACRO is to be congratulated on
organisating a . series of six day
conferences on   the prevention  of
crime.
  Each  conference has  a  specialist
theme-and   over  the whole  series,
professionals will attend from archi-
tecture, the media, education, hous-
ing, medicine and  leisure amenities.
There is a link group attending all
the conferences (including represen-
tatives from the Service and NAPO)

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