Probation Practice in England - Essay Example

Probation Practice for Black and Asian Offenders 1 Introduction Racism is any form of bigotry, prejudice, violence, oppression, stereotyping or other socially divisive practice whose primary basis is the concept of race. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, racism is a belief or ideology that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially to distinguish it as being either superior or inferior to another race or races. Racism has been a motivating factor in social discrimination, racial segregation, hate speech and violence. Racial discrimination is illegal in many countries. Racism produces its effects through segregation, socioeconomic stratification, and marginalization as well as through the individual experience. Institutionalized racism produces discriminatory effects on health through public policy, the physical environment, social and medical services and preventive health policy. The studies conducted by various organizations and individuals shows that the practice of racism is prevails in the criminal justice system also. There is recent evidence (from the 2000 British Crime Survey) that black and particularly Asian people are more likely than whites to say that the criminal justice system is effective in bringing offenders to justice, dealing with cases promptly and efficiently, and meeting the needs of crime victims. But at the same time Minority ethnic people were less confident that the system respected the rights of suspects and treated them fairly, and black respondents especially were less likely than whites to believe that the police treated witnesses well (Mirrlees-Black, 2001)(1). Whatever it is, it is important to explore the field of probation practice and the treatment of minority ethnic groups in the criminal justice system, to identify the criminogenic needs of black and Asian offenders, and to explore their views about probation supervision, and to inform decisions about appropriate service provision. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Mirrlees-Black, C. (2001) Confidence in the Criminal Justice System: Findings from the 2000 British Crime Survey. Research Findings No. 137, London: Home Office. 2 Thereby we can have a deep look into the probation practice to diversity in working with these Black and Asians .Moreover we can corroborate the possibility that people from minority ethnic groups may be subject to disadvantageous treatment at all stages of the criminal justice process, even if this does not result from overt racist discrimination (Phillips and B rown, 1998).(2) Before going to explore the areas of diversities in the probation practice regarding the black and Asian offenders, it will be helpful to have look on the scope of probation practices and criminal justice system. Probation service and Criminal Justice System The National Probation Service is a law enforcement agency delivering community punishment, supervising offenders within terms set by courts & the parole board and working with offenders to reduce their re-offending & to protect the public. It is an integral part of the criminal justice system. The criminal justice system is defined by government as:(3) (1)Home Office - police, prison and the probation service, 2) Lord Chancellor's Department - crown and magistrates' courts and court of appeal 3) Law Officers' department - crown prosecution and serious fraud office. This informal supervision was given a statutory basis by the Probation of Offenders Act 1907, which allowed courts to appoint and employ probation officers. They were required to advise, assist and befriend offenders placed under supervision. The appointment of paid probation officers was made obligatory by the Criminal Justice Act 1925.The main aim of this system particularly the aim of home office is to ensure the ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2. Phillips, C. and Brown, D. (1998) Entry into the Criminal Justice System: A Study of Police Arrests and their Outcomes (Home Office Research Study 185). London: Home Office. 3. Public Service for Future,PSA 1999-2002 (Cm4181) 3 effective delivery of the justice, avoiding the necessary delay, through efficient investigation, detection, prosecution, and court procedures and to deliver effective custodial and community sentences to reduce re offending and protect the public. Probation practice for the Black and Asian offenders and diversities The studies show that that the ethnic group offenders like black, Asians suffers social disadvantage in relation to employment, income, education and training and substantial social exclusions. They are disadvantaged than white offenders on probation. Black and Asian people in general are known to experience more disadvantage than white people in Britain. There are reports related to a number of negative experiences in relationship like racial abuse or oppressively frequent 'stop and search' which they believed would be less likely to happen to a white offender. This evidence suggests that the Probation Service should be aware that negative experiences of criminal justice are likely to affect perceptions of the legitimacy of the system, and this in turn can affect motivation and compliance In relation to victimization, the 2000 British Crime Survey found that while people from minority ethnic groups do not experience higher rates of victimization than whites living in similar areas, they - particularly Pakistanis and Bangladeshis -say that they are very worried about becoming victims of crime, and more likely to interpret crimes of which they have been victims as racially motivated (Clancy , 2001).(4) Among people who reported crimes to the police, those from minority ethnic groups were less likely than whites to express satisfaction with the police response. Being a victim of crime predicted a lower rating of police performance: only 33 per cent of victims of racially motivated incidents thought that the police were doing a good job. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Clancy, A., Hough, M., Aust, R. and Kershaw, C. (2001) Crime, Policing and Justice: the experience of ethnic minoritie,. Findings from the 2000 British Crime Survey (Home Office Research Study 223) London: Home Office. 4 There is recent evidence (from the 2000 British Crime Survey) that black and particularly Asian people are more likely than whites to say that the criminal justice system is effective in bringing offenders to justice, dealing with cases promptly and efficiently, and meeting the needs of crime victims. Black respondents especially were less likely than whites to believe that the police treated witnesses well (Mirrlees-Black, 2001).(5) Ethnic minorities' perceptions of the system as a whole were found to be more positive than whites' except in relation to prisons and, more emphatically, the police. The 2000 Survey also found that black people were more likely than either Asians or whites to have been stopped by the police, whether on foot or in a vehicle, and that people from all minority ethnic groups were less likely to say that, when they were stopped, they were treated fairly and politely, or that they were satisfied with the behaviour of the police (Clancy , 2001).(6) Young black men were the group most likely to be stopped by the police and while being black was not found to increase the likelihood of being stopped while on foot (a finding unlike those of the Surveys of 1993 and 1995), it did increase the chances of being stopped while in a car. Moreover the reports says that black people are discriminated against in criminal justice decision-making has centered on the dramatic over-representation of black people in the prison population. The Home Office (2002a)(7) estimates that in 2000 the rate of incarceration of black males was about nine times as high as that for white males, and about fifteen times as high for black as for white females. Only some of the discrepancy can be explained by the presence in these populations of foreign nationals, many arrested on entry into Britain; here the question arises that how far this incongruity can be explained by differences in the volume and types of crime committed by black people. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. ibid 1 6. ibid 4 7. Home Office (2000a) Race Equality in Public Services. London: Home Office. 5 The minority ethnic people in Britain like Blacks and Asians are than whites experiencing the kinds of disadvantage that are known to be risk factors for involvement in crime. The Home Office (2000a) uses Labour Force Survey figures to show that all minority ethnic groups are less likely than whites to be employed, and that rates of unemployment are particularly high in the most crime-prone age group 16-24. Pakistani, Bangladeshi and black African groups have the highest proportion of working-age people living in households in which no one is in paid employment, and Pakistani and Bangladeshi children, and people of working age from these ethnic groups, are the most likely to live in families with the lowest incomes. Children from the same groups, along with black children, are least likely to obtain five passes at A-C level in the GCSE examination, and black Black and Asian people are more likely to be charged rather than cautioned, more likely to be charged with more rather than less serious offences, and more likely to be remanded in custody. Both blacks and Asians are more likely than whites to plead not guilty, and more likely to be acquitted. If convicted of offences of violence, they are more likely to receive custodial sentences. This indicates that the decisions made on minority ethnic people differ from those made on whites in a way that increases their chances of being drawn further into the system, and ultimately increases the risk of custody. These issues are of current hit I the Probation Service as in other criminal justice agencies. Introducing a report on the service's work on race issues, the then Chief Inspector of Probation declared himself 'dismayed by many of the findings', especially those which suggested disparities between the approach to work with white and minority ethnic offenders (Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation, 2000: 1)(8) In a recent study of pre-sentence reports on Asian and white offenders in the north of England, Hudson and Bramhall (2002) reported serious deficiencies in the re cording of ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) (2000) Towards Race Equality: A T hema c Inspection. London, HMIP. 6 data on offenders' ethnicity. They also found important differences in the style and content of reports. Reports on Asians tended to be 'thinner', in the sense that they gave less information, and they frequently use 'distancing' language when discussing information given by the defendant. The Asian offenders' problems were more often attributed to their individual characteristics than to externally observable difficulties such as substance misuse. There were also differences in sentencing proposals: community punishment orders were more likely to be proposed for Asians, and community rehabilitation orders for whites; and report son Asians were more likely to make no positive proposal, or to present a custodial sentence as inevitable. The authors concluded that Asians received community punishment orders and short custodial sentences in cases where whites would receive community rehabilitation orders, and that this disparity in sentencing was a result of the proposals in re ports. These conclusions are based on a relatively small sample and on re p o rts in one probation area, but the study shows, (HMIP report (2000))(9) that there is no room for complacency in the Probation Service about its practice with minority ethnic offenders .Now we can analyze the following table. Typology of areas Offenders: target sample N of interviews achieved High density Bedfordshire 9 11 Greater Manchester 30 38 Leicestershire 9 11 London 191 210 Nottinghamshire 13 14 Thames Valley 18 18 West Midlands 78 64 Subtotal 348 368 Medium density Avon and Somerset 17 15 Hertfordshire 6 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9. ibid 8 7 Warwickshire 7 2 West Yorkshire 52 41 Wiltshire 6 4 Subtotal 88 65 Low density Devon/Cornwall 4 5 Essex 7 3 Lancashire 31 23 Lincolnshire 5 5 South Wales 17 16 Subtotal 64 52 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Total 500 483 The study and research of Home Office Research Study 277(10) shows that the impact of the problems discussed above was greater in medium and low density areas than in high density areas, with the exception of the West Midlands, where workload pressures on probation staff had led to a policy of minimal contact with certain categories of offender. This may suggest that probation areas with a high density of black and Asian offenders on probation and community rehabilitation orders have been generally more successful in developing practice that allows for constructive supervision and a better sense of offenders' current status. It should be noted, however, that even low density areas can contain small localities of high density, and it is important that the needs and interests of minority ethnic offenders in these localities should not be overlooked. As said before, Blacks and Asian offenders are subjected to some negative exclusion like social exclusion which is a shorthand label for what can happen when individuals or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10. Home Office Research Study 277, Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate March 2004 8 health and family breakdown. (Social Exclusion Unit, 1998)(11).This exclusion occurs in three areas, economic, educational and geographical. Economic exclusion is generally related to an individual's or family's or community's unemployment, work status, benefit dependency, lack of housing ownership, substandard quality of housing, lack of satisfactory educational qualifications, etc. In the current study, unemployment, low income, and benefit dependency are indicators of economic exclusion. Geographical disadvantage in the context of the present study was indicated by rented / supported housing, low quality housing, dislike of the neighborhood/area, and the stigma attached to particular kinds of housing and area. Generally the Black and Asian offenders supports the probation staff ,but at the same time the other part of the criminal justice system ,particularly the police, are always subjected to the criticism of racial discrimination within the criminal justice system. Allegations of police stereotyping, targeting and unfair treatment of black and Asian young people have been made in several studies on policing. (Cashmore and McLaughlin,1991). (12)It has been argued that the police represent to young minority ethnic people in inner city areas the symbol of a predominantly white society and their authority can not be seen as legitimate (Lea and Young, 1993).(13) The studies indicate that courts and the Probation Service have also shown disparity in sentencing and professional practice. that could be explained in terms of unfair treatment, racial discrimination or prejudice by magistrates, judges and probation officers, although the evidence has not always been conclusive (FitzGerald, 1993;, Hood ., 2003).(14) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11. Social Exclusion Unit (1998) Bringing Britain Together: A National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal (Cm 4045). London: Social Exclusion Unit. 12. Cashmore, E., and McLaughlin, E. (1991) Out of Order Policing Black People London: Routledge 13. Lea J and Young J., (1993) What is to be Done about Law and Order (revised edition). London: Pluto. 14. FitzGerald, M. (1999) Searches in London under Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. Lond2on: Metropolitan Police. Conclusion Even though there is always hue and cry regarding this issue, the attitude of the ethnic minority group like Blacks and Asians have set up their mind to show some favour towards the whites. They have agreed with the probation practice if there is a good probation officer who treat the people fairly and with respect, who listen and who show understanding. Some opines that it will be best for black or Asian offenders to be supervised by someone from the same ethnic group. Whatever it is, nobody can deny the truth that racism is part of human nature-which it's always existed and always will. And it comes from people's bad ideas and that if we could change these ideas, we could get rid of it. But those who are coming to radical politics--Blacks and whites alike--hatred of racism and a desire to get rid of it is a huge motivating factor. This is in contrast to some of the common assumptions about where racism comes from. *********************************** Bibliography Books and Authors 1. Cashmore, E., and McLaughlin, E. (1991) Out of Order Policing Black People London: Routledge 2. Clancy, A., Hough, M., Aust, R. and Kershaw, C. (2001) Crime, Policing and Justice: the experience of ethnic minoritie,. Findings from the 2000 British Crime Survey (Home Office Research Study 223) London: Home Office. 3. Mirrlees-Black, C. (2001) Confidence in the Criminal Justice System: Findings from the 2000 British Crime Survey. Research Findings No. 137, London: Home Office. Journals and Publications 4. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) (2000) Towards Race Equality: A T hema c Inspection. London, HMIP. 5. Home Office Research Study 277, Black and Asian Offenders on Probation, Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate March 2004 Read More