Articles

Probation services in England and Wales supervise over 240,000 people sentenced by the courts or after they have left prison; around one in eight of these people are from a non-white ethnic minority (Ministry of Justice, 2022). Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation recently published their inspection report on the experiences of ethnic minority people on probation and staff. From fieldwork across five areas, the inspectors found significant problems in the quality of relationships between probation workers and ethnic minority people on probation, and reported significant gaps in the availability of services and interventions.

The probation service is at a crossroad in its history with the two sectors, the National Probation Service and the privatised Community Rehabilitation Companies being reunited. This is a good time to examine discrimination both within the criminal justice system, including probation, and in society to improve the service and experience for staff and service users. The article provides the reader with a detailed literature review on discrimination in criminal justice, its history, policy and practice over time. It starts with the beginning of anti-racist practice ideas and continues up to the present time, with the latest report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (2021) thematic inspection. This report, like its two predecessors, in 2000 and 2004, details how people of colour, both probation professionals and clients have reported being disadvantaged. There is evidence to show that this is beyond personal reflection. Targets in subsequent action plans should include…

What explains the persistence of ethnic and racial disparities within the criminal justice system in the UK and other jurisdictions and how should they be addressed? Whilst there is far reaching agreement that such disparities exist and need to be eliminated or mitigated, the explanations for these differential outcomes are more contested.

This article outlines findings from surveys and interviews with young people and their parents/caregivers in a Youth Offending Service (YOS) in London. The YOS worked to a model of three elements, these being: trauma-informed practice; restorative justice; awareness of unconscious bias. The article presents a literature review that explores these key elements of the YOS model before presenting the findings that emerge from the data. We found the trauma-recovery approach builds resilience, hope for the future, and a positive sense of self-identity in young people