© British Association of Social Workers
The Probation Officer as Social Worker
On graduating in English Literature, Robert J. Harris spent a year teaching and researching at a Canadian University. He joined the Probation and After-Care Service in 1971, and worked for four years in the Tottenham office of the Middlesex Service. Between 1975 and 1977 he was a lecturer in Applied Social Studies at Brunel University, working also as a probation officer on a part-time basis. Since October 1977 he has been a lecturer in the School of Social Work, Leicester University.
Summary
In this article the author argues for a detachment of the probation service from the function of carrying out court orders to supervise offenders. He suggests that changes in social work training have not been matched by any fundamental changes in the probation service's relationship with the court or by any fundamental changes in the probation service's own organization or philosophy. The consequence is that probation officers spend a disproportionate amount of time doing tasks for which their training has not equipped them. He postulates a new relationship between the probation service and the courts which gives the former greater autonomy in social work decision making, and gives the latter greater scope to administer punishments within the community. The need to move away from the utilitarian justification for work with offenders that it reduces crime is also urged, and it is suggested that there is a need to establish, as a value, the importance of social work provisions and counselling for offenders as a deprived group in society, irrespective of the effect of these measures on the crime rate.