A SMARTER APPROACH TO SENTENCING? ASPIRATIONS, CHALLENGES, AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PROBATION PRACTICE IN ENGLAND AND WALES

The paper considers the thinking articulated in the White Paper, ‘A smarter approach to sentencing,’ and evaluates its potential impact on probation practice in England and Wales. Both authors are experienced probation practitioners, now concerned with the training of future Probation Officers. A specific focus of the article considers the retention of practitioners, at a time when the attrition of staff is significant. (HMPPS, 2022a.)

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MENTORING AFTER PRISON: RECOGNITION AS A TOOL FOR REFLECTION

Many organisations offer mentoring schemes to support people leaving prison and resettle back into the community. Mentorship relationships are complex but despite this, there remains limited theoretical and/or research informed tools to guide mentorship practices and hereby the success of ex-prisoner mentorship. The aim of the paper is to contribute to this shortfall by presenting a theoretically informed framework to assist reflection on mentorship practices and the mentorship relationship: the Recognition Reflection Framework (RRF). The framework has potential to provide mentors with a tool to reflect on ex-prisoners´ need for recognition of worth if they are to desist from crime. The paper describes the theoretical development and preliminary validation of this reflection framework, underpinned by a strengths-based mentoring approach, and developed through the merger of concepts from recognition theory, person centred care and therapeutic alliances. We present this framework as a means through which mentors can reflect on how they may specifically contribute to secondary and tertiary desistance, as well as reflect on ways they can personally develop a constructive mentor-client relationship.

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CAREGIVING AND SUPPORT FOR OLDER, FRAIL AND DISABLED PEOPLE IN PRISON: POLY-VOCAL PERSPECTIVES FROM THE LANDINGS AND SOCIO-POLITICAL INFLUENCES

The proportion of older prisoners has increased dramatically meaning there are currently 13,283 prisoners over the age of 50 in UK prisons. Increased frailty and disability have exposed issues in relation to supporting Older, Frail and Disabled People in prison (OFDPs) with their functional health needs and accessing formal health and social care services. This paper discusses the experiences of providing care and support for OFDPs living with health and social needs, the factors that intensify the OFDPs experience of disadvantage and makes recommendations for policy and practices. Data was collected using qualitative methods, namely ethnography and semi-structured interviews. The data was coded and thematically analysed and interpreted using ethics of care and critical realist philosophical frameworks. The data reflects the experiences and perspectives of prison officers, prisoner caregivers, OFDPs and the researcher. The research renders visible the influence of institutional practices and wider socio-political discourses on the experiences of individuals who provide care and support to vulnerable OFDPs. The research proposes several recommendations based on the development of safer, care practices, training and adequate resourcing.

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BUILDING RESILIENCE AND ADDRESSING VULNERABILITIES TO SERIOUS AND ORGANISED CRIME: THE CASE OF COMMUNITY COORDINATORS

This paper presents findings from research into one of the Serious and Organised Crime Community Coordinator (SOC CC) pilots funded by the Home Office. Delivered in Birmingham UK between 2019 and 2021 by West Midlands Police, the SOC CC role included identifying community projects and building partnerships across statutory and voluntary sectors in high-need areas of the city. The research took a qualitative approach, interviewing 11 key stakeholders representing the programmes commissioned by the SOC CC, the Home Office, community partners, the West Midlands Violence Reduction Unit, local schools, and West Midlands Police. The study focused on the potential of the pilot to develop community resilience and address vulnerabilities through a whole-system approach and commissioning of resources from statutory, police, and third-party stakeholders.

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Call for Lived Experience Blog

It has been over twenty years since Shadd Maruna’s (2001) now iconic work Making Good: How Ex-Convicts Reform and Rebuild Their Lives. In his book, he argued powerfully for the impact of self-narrative in connecting us to our past, present and future actions

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Editorial (Issue 19: Issue 1)

Welcome to this issue of the British Journal of Community Justice.

The papers in this issue highlight current and long-standing concerns about race equality in the criminal justice system and the challenges in identifying and addressing community tensions. Issues which influential 2017 Lammy Review brought to the fore. Our papers do not directly touch on the issue of policing, but it seems remiss not to mention the recently published Casey Review report (Baroness Blackstock 2023) into standards of behaviour and internal culture of the Metropolitan Police (the Met). The finding that the Met is institutionally racist, sexist and homophobic is damning and profoundly dismaying. The issue of race equality and justice is not new. It suggests that lessons have not been learnt from the Scarman Report into the Brixton riots, over forty years ago; and the MacPherson report (1999) which first found the Met to be institutionally racist. The Met and policing more generally does not constitute the totality of the criminal justice system in England and Wales. Nevertheless, the Casey Review is totemic and warns against the dangers of complacency, self-regard and “turning a blind eye” to the issue of race and other equality concerns across the criminal justice system.

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CONSPICUOUS BY THEIR ABSENCE – RECLAIMING THE SILENCED VOICES OF BLACK WOMEN IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Despite being the most overrepresented group of women in the Criminal Justice System (CJS), a significant lack of attention has been paid to Black women in academic literature and government policy in relation to this disparity.

Using a Black feminist lens, this article seeks to illuminate the mistreatment, neglect, discrimination, and oppression experienced by these women once in the CJS. The research highlights their voices and experiences through a process of Narrative Interviewing, one of the most effective tools for collecting data from marginalised groups, and the use of Critical Race Feminism as the theoretical framework that assists in providing powerful counter narratives. Eight women with experience of imprisonment in England and Wales were interviewed, producing 21 in-depth interviews. This article explores key themes including racist stereotyping, poor healthcare, and lack of rehabilitative services and presents participant’s narratives alongside case examples. The data suggests that, in an already problematic system, poor treatment and negative experiences are due to intersectional factors such as race, gender, religion, and class. The article ends with some considerations of how to minimise exclusionary practices and integrating Black women’s narratives into solutions to the highlighted issues.

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COMBATTING COMMUNITY TENSIONS IN WALES: MAPPING THE COOPERATION SPACE FOR MULTI-AGENCY COHESION DELIVERY

Purpose - this paper maps out the cooperation space between partners responsible for tension monitoring and cohesion delivery in Wales. The network, labelled Cohesion Delivery Network (CDN), is examined using a mixed method approach. The final output provides a visualisation of the cooperation space between seven key stakeholder groups and indicates what predictive factors cause increased and decreased cooperation. The final section of this paper provides explanatory accounts of the findings made, providing an insight into why and how the cooperation exists.

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