Probation

Having taken a few hours off from festive activities I reached for a richly original, challenging and accessible criminology book by Jason Warr that I had resisted picking up for some time. 

With the powerful momentum for enduring reform in criminal justice systems captured most recently by the Black Lives Matter campaign in mind, I was particularly moved on reading  Elliott Currie's timely analysis and policy blueprint for addressing the shocking levels of 'everyday' violence that besets many African American communities in the US.

Often when reading criminological tomes, a phrase or reference will leap out from the pages to evoke a memory of past probation practice.

Whilst I was reading Michael Tonry's timely and humane critique of many of the more damaging and unjust policies and practices of punishment and sentencing in the US justice system, a phrase jolted my memory of my time working in probation.

I suppose it was almost inevitable when I was reading a recently published and presciently informed book on risk control in criminal justice, that two pertinent terms in particular, risk and existential uncertainty, resonated most uncomfortably with me in the current all enveloping coronavirus pandemic.