What Works in Offender Management?1

Abstract

This article traces the emergence of a trend toward a fragmented style of offender management, whereby staff increasingly occupy specialist roles, and offenders encounter a variety of staff in the course of supervision. Reflecting on existing research, it argues that offenders are not best served by a system in which they are conceived as 'portable entities', and in which staff are obliged to engage in a 'pass-the-parcel' style of supervision. It also argues that the fragmentation of practice presents risks to at least some staff in terms of morale and job satisfaction. Finally, implications for NOMS are discussed. Less than a decade ago, an offender commencing probation supervision could expect a high degree of continuity in his or her order (Burnett 1996). It was more than likely that the probation officer who prepared the offender's pre-sentence report would subsequently become his or her supervising officer, and the offender could expect to complete his or her order or licence under the supervision of the same officer. This article reflects on the recent trend toward 'fragmentation' in the delivery of probation which, it is argued, has been associated with a partial breakdown of the traditional 'relational' model of offender supervision. This trend in favour of fragmentation, it is argued, is traceable to a number of developments, beginning in the early 1990s with the formalisation of partnership arrangements and the emergence of a 'case management' model of practice. More recently, fragmentation has been encouraged by a growing tendency, at the level of management, to think about and treat offenders differentially in accordance with risk profiles. This article argues that, as the power to make decisions about the shape of offender supervision has moved further up the managerial hierarchy, notions of effectiveness have become confused. In short, 'what works' at the level of aggregate 'offender management' does not necessarily work for offenders, or indeed the practitioners responsible for supervising them.