Kyros Hadjisergis
On the 18th of January 2023, the University of Wolverhampton’s School of Social Science and Humanities (Criminology and Criminal Justice) in association with the British Society of Criminology (BSC) – Midlands Regional Group hosted the Reimagining Probation and the Rehabilitation of Offenders conference at the University of Wolverhampton (City Campus). The conference explored new developments, research, and practices in probation and the rehabilitation of offenders with the aim to celebrate and disseminate recent work undertaken in probation in both academia and practice. The event was open to academics, practitioners, trainees, students, the public, and anyone interested in probation and the rehabilitation of offenders.
A successful event, which many described as a ‘day for probation’, that included a wide range of speakers and topics about current research and practices in probation from ethics, generative justice, and emotional labour to probation objects and insights from senior and frontline probation officers. The conference programme included keynote talks, panel discussions, a roundtable, academic posters, and a proposal for a BSC Probation and Community Justice Network. Delegates also enjoyed the networking opportunity the conference provided as academics as well as practitioners from criminal justice and non-criminal justice agencies were in attendance. Highly praised and fantastic to see were the posters of Wolverhampton Criminology students which showcased their brilliant work and expert knowledge on the topic. The proposal for a BSC Probation and Community Justice Network that the conference timely accommodated was also warmly welcomed and generated overwhelming interest by delegates. It was also invaluable that a roundtable made of senior, frontline, and trainee probation officers based in both custody and community settings was part of the conference. The roundtable provided insights and perspectives from three generations of probation as Amy, Becky, Hayley, Lauren, and Steph from HMPPS raised the voice of unsung aspects of probation through their probation officer experiences (from custody, trainee, and senior perspectives).
On the matter of ethics in probation, Jane Dominey from the University of Cambridge explored the values of the Service and how these have in one respect followed the various phases of Probation in England and Wales, but more recently they now appear rooted in public commitment and accountability in an effort to respond to organisational expectations and defensible decisions. In this context, we were reminded of Care and Control and how probation has always found itself in the middle of this debate. Probation has never solely been about controlling crime, and care ethics aim at a reconciliation where Probation becomes a relational activity, one determined by the supervisory relationship, tailored interventions, and social networks (Dominey and Canton, 2022): a ‘care-full reimagining’ that does not see Care and Control as opposites but rather as synergists trying to do the right thing in a caring way.
This reconciliation may create promising opportunities for Probation, but it also begs the question of what form of justice would be best suited to accommodate this ‘care-full reimagining’. In the conference, Mary Corcoran from Keele University viewed the prospect of generative justice as a harm-focused, forward-looking alternative bridging criminal and social (in)justices. This form of justice thereby commits and invests in the individual and the remaking of relationships in view of a sustainable rebuilding of collective welfare and security. Generative justice in probation then agrees with the ability of people to change but also promotes change that goes beyond the individual and to the core of the Service’s culture and practices. This reintroduces a familiar friend of probation, namely dialogue. The Generative Justice Project in the present context means that communication and participation are core concerns for probation and even more so in its changing, multi-agency landscape, where the much-coveted dialogue rather becomes a ‘multilogue’ among offenders, victims, practitioners, and the community. In the renationalisation phase, this need for shared meanings of justice and desistance founded more in a commitment to relationships than risk assessments thus becomes central to the reimagining of modern probation.
Equally important in the reimagining task is to cast a forgotten player on the probation stage, that is its occupational culture. The enthusiasts of occupational cultures in criminal justice are well aware that probation’s version has regrettably not received the academic attention and interest that cop culture has, and that Mawby and Worral’s report on the matter remains the most noteworthy effort. Andrew Fowler, Tom Brown, and Charlotte Oliver from Sheffield Hallam University are in the course of changing this by what they introduced in the conference as ‘probation in objects’. Probation’s language, socio-penal character, and visibility have long been contested both in public and organisational terms (Robinson, 2016), so the way people understand and think about probation can be instrumental for its future. The images and objects commonly associated with the Service may be telling of public expectations, cultural values, or even personal experiences. This also agrees with how probation is a relational activity and an experiential enterprise that does not take place in a vacuum but rather happens in community with others.
What the conference collectively highlighted then is that a wider window to probation is at stake. This is not only about reconfiguring the meaning of justice in this context, but even long-established probation imperatives, such as rehabilitation, desistance, and emotion. Nicola Carr from the University of Nottingham and Amy Thornton from the Probation Service reminded us of the ‘rehabilitative endeavour’ and the discourse move from rehabilitation to desistance both in academia and practice, and how desistance begins with that communicating of experiences of trauma and attention to personal and social problems (Burke et al, 2022; Wilkinson, 2009). In the renationalisation era of the Service, how the journeys of rehabilitation and desistance are experienced, communicated, shared, and understood by the stakeholders of probation is part and parcel of its reimagining. This treasure hunt for meaning is not about making new labels or recycling old ones but rather forming meaningful relationships in a probation culture of collective identity.
Probation is nothing but relational, and that makes emotion an ever-present constant of its practices and values. Jake Phillips, Chalen Westaby, Samantha Ainslie, and Andrew Fowler from Sheffield Hallam University unravelled the multifaceted concept of emotional labour which echoed how probation remains an emotionally charged agency where a plethora of emotions meet, coexist, collide. In this case, emotional labour of frontline and senior probation officers becomes yet another set of expectations they respond to alongside structural rules and uncharted occupational cultures (Phillips et al, 2020).
These quests for meaning, purpose, and emotion are therefore key not only in reimagining probation, but even more so in navigating the offender-practitioner relationship as well as the path to desistance.
This event was the first of its kind in dedicating an entire conference on probation and as such to create a space for the voice of academics, students, and practitioners working on this area to be heard and celebrated. It provided a fruitful opportunity for discussion and exchange of ideas among delegates about the roles of rehabilitation and desistance and the meaning of justice within probation. We are honoured to have hosted this event at a time when Probation is undergoing a pivotal restructuring phase and thereby contribute to understanding what the current challenges and priorities facing the Service are. We are deeply grateful to the speakers, students, the British Society of Criminology, our marketing and public engagement teams, and everybody who was in attendance and made this event possible at a time when acknowledging and reimagining probation in academia and practice is more crucial than ever.
Reference list
Burke, L., Carr, N., Cluley, E., Collett, S. & McNeill, F. (2022) Reimagining Probation Practice: Re-forming Rehabilitation in an Age of Penal Excess. London: Routledge.
Dominey, J., & Canton, R. (2022). Probation and the ethics of care. Probation Journal, 69(4) pp.417–433.
Phillips, J., Waters, J., Westaby, C. & Fowler, A. (2020) Emotional Labour in Criminal Justice and Criminology. London: Routledge.
Robinson, G. (2016). The Cinderella Complex: Punishment, Society and Community Sanctions. Punishment & Society, 18(1) pp.95–112.
Wilkinson, K. (2009) The Doncaster desistance study. Project Report. Sheffield: Sheffield Hallam University.
About the author
Dr Kyros Hadjisergis is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Wolverhampton. He has conducted research in probation and human rights, rehabilitation, organised crime and community justice, human trafficking, and has expertise in qualitative methods. His wider research interests relate to probation, rehabilitation and desistance, penology, and human rights. He teaches across all undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Contact
Dr Kyros Hadjisergis FHEA
Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice
University of Wolverhampton
k.hadjisergis2@wlv.ac.uk
This article gives the views of the author, not the position of the British Society of Criminology or the institution they work for.
The BSC Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.