Criminal Justice Reform and Probation

This article explores three questions. First, it considers who does and should determine the demand for probation services; second, why the pattern for the demand and supply of probation services is as it currently is; and finally, it considers how the future demand and supply of probation services might be altered. The author argues that the ‘silting up’ of probation caseloads with low risk offenders is a major problem for an already over-stretched workforce and suggests a number of measures which could be taken to address this problem – these include the ‘up-tariffing’ of community service, more use of restorative justice approaches, a more effective strategy to inform sentencers of the effects their sentencing decisions are having, and a return to a greater reliance on financial penalties.