NCJ Number
207646
Date Published
2004
Length
18 pages
Annotation
The author, who is Her Majesty's Chief Inspector appointed by British Home Office Ministers, discusses inspectorate functions, with attention to probation services; the inspectorate's collection of reliable evidence; and the promotion of good practice in probation.
Abstract
Inspectorate functions are to determine the quality and effectiveness of government services, to provide independent advice to government agencies on their performance, and to assist government agencies in improving their performance. Regarding Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP), it became clear that the structure for its independent assessment of probation services had to change after the creation of the National Probation Service (NPS) and associated National Probation Directorate (NPD). In describing the changes that occurred in HMIP, the chapter describes the new inspection program that reflects HMIP's decision to transfer to the NPD the responsibility for collecting general performance data and routinely monitoring the videos of accredited group offending behavior programs. This transfer occurred primarily because the resources of HMIP were insufficient to assess the expanded number of programs under the NPS. Inspectorate functions regarding NPS performance are assessment, intervention, and outcome. The adequacy of the evidence collected in these areas is reviewed. The chapter concludes that most "good practice" recommendations made by HMIP attempt to reflect what the collected evidence reveals to be most effective; however, this does not ensure that the practices recommended will produce policies that are well-founded in empirical evidence. 3 notes and 36 references