Probation Journal

Racist practice is poor professional practice, but can't be tackled simply by a few courses, which can be tokenistic or counter productive. How can we make racism less marginal, and integrated into all Service thinking?

Employer-employee relationships in the Service receive scant attention in an otherwise profuse probation literature, and many feel uncomfortable with 'industrial relations' in a welfare service. Yet the importance of an informed and organised stance, at a local as well as national level, is crucial to defend and promote members' interests, particularly in the face of a third term of Thatcherism.

The pain and problems of children with a parent in prison is conveniently avoided and forgotten, unless they become particularly disturbed. Using two children's experience as indicative of widespread need, the author challenges the penal system to take their need seriously and provide humane and sensitive resources to minimize damage.

With 'treatment' discredited, the Probation Service urgently needs to declare cogently and coherently what it stands for. 'Alternatives to Custody' is no satisfactory answer. The author reviews the myopia of our sluggish sentencing culture with its inconsistencies, complacency and habit-ridden assumptions, and articulates a modest but progresive stance for the Service.

The current input of Government funds to develop victim support schemes could promote over-enthusiasm for direct reparation which may damage rather than help victims. Victims and volunteer support workers could be exploited in order to provide another sanction for the Courts, as society conveniently offloads collective responsibility onto the individual victim.