Probation Journal

Building on their experience of groupwork with male perpetrators of partnership violence, Peterborough Probation Officers Keith Blackburn and Barbara Tooze draw upon psychodynamic theory to present models which inform and explain the process of 'domestic' assaults and the defensive strategies adopted by men in justifying patriarchal oppression.

Until more relevant provision becomes available, traditional one-to-one supervision through the probation order is likely to remain the mainstay of probation practice with women. Drawing upon their recent survey of practitioner and consumer views and other writings Lisa Wright, a probation officer in Hereford and Worcester, and Hazel Kemshall, Lecturer in Social Work at Birmingham University, argue that if the Probation Service is to be a positive resource for women, supervision needs to take account of the differences in women's offending and women's lives. The majority of the women probationers surveyed considered that they had received a worthwhile service but those who had engaged in woman-centred supervision valued probation most highly. The authors offer proposals towards the 'synergetic' integration of feminine values into gender-conscious service.

Believing that demanding, high-profile work with sex offenders is not fundamentally different from practice with other offenders and can be undertaken effectively by most practitioners, given good training and support, Northumbria Probation Service structured its management of the task in 1991 by appointing a specialist development team. Roger Kennington describes the history, initial progress and current developments of the team and argues that the skills, knowledge and confidence of workers has been enhanced, while overcoming familiar management problems.

Deborah Cheney of the University of Kent and member of the Board of Visitors at Canterbury Prison argues for greater awareness of the plight of foreign nationals in British prisons, backed by international co-ordination and local specialisation to address systematically their particular needs from initial remand to end of sentence.

Ian Waite, a Probation Officer and Sex Offender Treatment Programme (SOTP) tutor at Risley Prison, offers a critique of the national SOTP tutor training programme, a process which he believes ultimately fails the tutors, the prospective participants and the home probation officer.

David Ward and Jon Spencer, both Social Work academic teachers and former probation officers, defend the place of probation training within the current Dip SW partnership arrangements against reduced Home Office sponsorships, alternative qualification proposals and growing government doubts whether social work courses provide value for money.