NCJ Number
96945
Date Published
1984
Length
140 pages
Annotation
This study reviews the attitudes of magistrates, probation officers, and social workers toward provisions in Great Britain's 1982 Criminal Justice Act that give the courts power to require a probationer to refrain from specified activities or attend specified places other than a day center.
Abstract
The new law also gives courts power to impose curfews on probationers. This study interviewed 90 magistrates, 23 probation officers, and 9 social workers in 1 county. During the entire year following the passage of the act, no probation officer recommended special requirements for a probation order and no probation order with special requirements was imposed, and the county probation committee did not approve facilities for special requirements or a day center. In essence, the probation service in the county frustrated implementation of the legislation. Magistrates generally welcomed the power to insert special requirements, but probation officers were concerned that such requirements would increase their work load. Although senior management in the probation service initially adopted a middle position, it eventually thwarted the legislation by not approving any new facilities. The National Association of Probation Officers' opposition to the act did not help. Neither probation officers nor magistrates in the county made any serious attempts to adopt a plan for the use of the new powers to impose special requirements. The monograph includes recommendations and a bibliography.