Models of probation, alternatives to custody and the future community supervision of seriously convicted offenders by the Cleveland probation service through the implementation of a new sentence

Abstract

Against the historical background of the rise and fall of consensus in the probation service, numerous academic models, the Home Office Statement of National Objectives and Priorities, the professional views of the National Association of Probation Officers and the views of the Cleveland Probation Service, this thesis analyses dimensions of the probation order. Specifically it is concerned to discover the elements of probation practice, underlying ideology, value orientation and which social work methods are being used by a number of probation officers with offenders on probation. It also considers whether probation orders are being offered by probation officers and used by sentencers as an alternative to custody. By doing so it begins to question whether those models of probation discussed in the first part of the thesis are conducive to convincing a number of magistrates and judges that the Cleveland Probation Service can credibly manage, contain and control the more seriously convicted offender in the community. Both quantitative and qualitative empirical research presented in this thesis suggests that for more serious offenders, particularly those convicted of dwelling house burglary, the Cleveland Probation Service will have to look beyond the probation order to a new sentence if it wishes to convince the coiorts that it has a credible alternative to custody to offer.