Role of Probation Service in Bringing Justice Flashcards
What is the aim of the probation service?
Supervises high-risk offenders released in to the community
Support victims of serious sexual or violent crimes
What aims of punishment do the probation service meet?
Rehabilitation Retribution Deterrence Reparation Incapacitation
What is the role of the probation service?
Protect the public by rehabilitation of offenders, looks at the cause of the crime and supports them to turn their lives around
Work with other organisation - police, courts, and partners in the private and voluntary sectors to manage offenders
What reach does the probation service have?
Rehabilitates offenders in England and Wales
Funding of the Probation Service
Government sponsors the NPS through income tax revenue
Overall budget for HM prison and probation service in 2018 - £4.6billion
Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC) - private businesses that have contact with the ministry of justice to provide probation
Paid for meeting rehabilitation targets agreed in their contracts
House of commons public accounts committee 2018 - up to £342 million has been spent on the CRC without any clear benefits
How does the probation service operate and achieve social control?
Help reduce offending rates compared to prisons with community sentences
Uses coercive strategies to encourage informal control and self control by working with families, employers and offenders to change offending behaviour
How does it carry out social control in relation to the aim?
Supervise offenders into conforming to the norms and values of society
How does it carry out social control in relation to the role?
Work with other agencies to ensure that the public are protected by limiting the freedom of offenders
Can give curfew orders and offenders are afraid to be sent to prison for breaking their licence
How does it carry out social control in relation to funding?
Budget cuts mean that they are less equipped to effectively rehabilitate offenders
Paid for effectively rehabilitating offenders motivates the staff to fulfil their role as effectively as possible
How is it a form of external social control?
Acts as a pressure to persuade/compel members of society to conform to the rules
Uses coercion to achieve a desired result - threat of future punishment for breaking the law
How is it successful in effective social control?
Partial privatisation of the National Probation Service allows for successful social control as it allows for them to work with other organisation/companies (such as community rehabilitation companies) to increase the effectiveness in reducing reoffending
Communicate with and prioritise the well being of victims of sexual and violent offences
Trying to reduce the recidivism rates and likelihood of reoffending
How is it unsuccessful in effective social control?
Partial privatisation of national probation service may make it less effective as it becomes harder for the government to manage offenders within the community and continuing to protect the public
HM Inspectorate of Probation report August 2016 - the quality of pre-sentence reports used by the courts were not good enough which led to many cases of inappropriate sentencing
Staff shortages - caused issues in which some CRC’s have to manage offenders via telecommunication
19/21 CRC’s failed to meet their rehabilitation targets meaning that they are not having an impact on reducing offender rate
Staff are more focus on paperwork at the expense of the prisoners
Many prisoners are released without having somewhere to sleep and may have to turn to crime in order to find shelter
Many prisoner’s assessments of their risk to the public are inadequate before being released
