The World of Probation

 

The sixth World Congress of Probation and Parole brought more than 400 people from 61 countries to The Hague this week to ponder the future of community corrections. As the self-proclaimed birthplace of probation in 1823, the Netherlands proved not only fitting but wonderfully creative hosts for a celebration of what Clement Okech from Kenya described as the “human face” of criminal justice.

And there is much to celebrate in how probation services around the world are, in Okech’s words “catching the fish and cooking the fish”. Participants heard about positive legal and practice developments from Armenia to Zambia; strong technical assistance provided to low-income countries from governments – not least the Dutch in their former colonies- and from NGOs like Penal Reform International; and a growing movement to expand the role of volunteers in reintegration drawing inspiration from practice in Japan.

But we had the chance to think about some storm clouds on the horizon too.

Staffing shortages and under resourcing are affecting rich and poor countries alike. Surinam reported problems in retaining officers in its developing probation service because of low pay.

Academic experts Ion Durnescu and Faye Taxman estimated that globally more than half of people in corrections are in the community rather than prison yet funds for the former are dwarfed by the latter.

The Congress heard that more than half of people entering US state prisons do so as a result of failing to comply with community supervision requirements -which I was shocked to learn average 17 in number in each individual case.  How much probation pushes people back into prison in England and Wales is the subject of the latest Transform Justice podcast. 

It seems too that the much vaunted swift and certain sanctions model (on which the UK’s intensive supervision courts pilots are in part based) is ineffective. 

There is a clearly a good case for substantial investment in probation capacity – something which has been accepted in Kenya where probation strength has almost quadrupled in 15 years. But it is certainly not typical in Africa, nor elsewhere.

Concerns too about the human face of probation being diluted by growing reliance on technology in the form not only of electronic monitoring as a standalone sanction and the role of Artificial Intelligence in risk assessment. The Dutch prison service is working on “the possibility of reducing staff deployment through robotisation” and probation may not be far behind. Dangers of racial and other forms of discrimination may be recognised but are they being addressed?

Finally, many countries face hardening public and political attitudes on crime, scepticism about social scientific evidence and a need for scapegoats in cases of serious re-offending. Maintaining core probation values can be a challenge in a risk averse climate.

The Congress heard a sneak preview of the forthcoming Handbook on Global Community Corrections which finds that compared to 30 years ago many more services report public protection, involving the victim and community safety among their mission statements.

Finding better ways of communicating a proactive narrative about how probation achieves these objectives, using stories from offenders, victims, and practitioners as well as better data is an urgent priority.

Will the worldwide probation family be able to meet these challenges? I hope to be able to report back from the seventh Congress in 2026.

It’s in Bali by the way.