NCJ Number
116511
Date Published
1987
Length
14 pages
Annotation
There has been growing interest in the Probation Service in Great Britain becoming more involved in community-based work that moves away from a narrow focus on the needs of individual offenders to a wider concern with the social basis of crime and its reduction and with the operation of the criminal justice system as whole.
Abstract
This represents a major shift of emphasis for which a common rationale is currently lacking. Theoretical analysis has tended to be fragmentary, and there is a danger that the 'community' label will be applied indiscriminately and without a clear conception of the aims and goals of such work. Three main types of Probation Service involvement in community-based/crime prevention work are identifiable: linking clients to community resources and developing community resources, interagency coordination of service delivery to defined communities or particular problems, and community development with neighborhood residents. Probation service efforts involving the community in the consequences of crime and criminal justice process have included mediation, reparation, and victim compensation and support schemes. These efforts have a variety of rationales and objectives that will require changes in the way effectiveness is evaluated and the processes used. Evaluation will require techniques that focus on participants' own meanings and their interpretations of events. This is likely to require increased emphasis on observational studies and interview techniques sensitive to the assessment of attitudes, opinions, and results. 14 references.