Comments & Speeches

This particular article by Jane Dominey is about the networks of relationships (between people and between organisations) that underpin probation supervision. Drawing on evidence from a study researching these interactions, it develops two models of supervision (‘thin’ and ‘thick’) by taking themes that shape supervision and charting the interplay between them.

The presentation drew on work that I and my colleague, Roger Grimshaw, have been undertaking, to provide an up-to-date overview of the UK justice systems. The report of this work is due for publication a bit later this year.

One, mundane but important, conclusion I shared yesterday was that there is no single way of doing justice in the UK.

Professor Rosa Freedman of the University of Reading and Professor Jo Phoenix of The Open University talked about their experience of deplatforming at the University of Essex in the months leading up to the first COVID lockdown. The problems of deplatforming are, however, wider than these particular events, and extend also beyond universities.

The subject content concerned the historic design and contemporary usage of the modern day courthouse, but more particularly I found myself gripped by a fascinating chapter entitled, 'Docks and locks in criminal courts.'

Our experience tells us that standing for improved knowledge and understanding is not always without controversy.

For instance, when, more than a decade ago, we established the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs with David Nutt, we were clear that drugs policy was unlikely to be effective if it was not informed by the best scientific evidence. This standpoint, unremarkable in itself, was controversial because of the politics of drugs, then and now.