West Lothian Council delivers

Probation Orders

 

What is a Probation Order?

A Probation Order is imposed by a court; it is an order that focuses on helping someone change the aspects of their behaviour that make it likely that they wil get into trouble. The court may also wish the Criminal Justice Social Work Service to monitor someone's behaviour, which will most often be done through joint work with other organisations, such as the Police.

A Probation Order can last from 6 months to 3 years (this is decided by the court) and may have special conditions attached to it.

What conditions apply to a Probation Order?

The standard conditions of a Probation Order are that the probationer:

must be of good behaviour (should not commit any offences during the period of the order)
must conform to the directions of their supervising officer, must attend all appointments with their supervising officer (which includes attending any groupwork sessions as directed).
must inform their supervising officer at once if they change their place of residence (even if only for a short time), or their place of employment. This is important because the supervising officer needs to be able to contact the Probationer at any time.
 The court can impose any additional conditions that seem necessary. Examples of these could include:

carrying out unpaid hours of work as an additional punishment
attending for specialist counselling (for example, for alcohol or drug problems)
paying compensation to the victim of your offence
complying with medical or psychiatric treatment
being restricted to your home for part of each day (a condition of Restriction of Liberty, managed by Serco, the company which runs such orders for the Scottish Government)
How does someone know what commitments they would be taking on by consenting to a Probation Order being imposed?

This will be discussed with the person when the Social Enquiry Report is being prepared, and at that stage, the issues that are causing that person to offend will be considered. The steps that need to be taken to reduce the risk of re-offending will be recorded in the court report as the 'Action Plan', and this will form the basis of the Probation Order. However, the detailed assessment of what needs to be put in place will happen in the first few weeks of the order, following further discussion between the offender and their supervising Officer.

How do we help people change their behaviour?

While there are external factors that do increase the risk of someone re-offending, we are of the view that individuals can and should take the responsibility for changing their behaviour. We will help and suppport the offender in working with appropriate organsiations to deal with these problems, and have good working relationships with a number of relevant organisations, for example in the field of addictions.

The way in which most offenders will be helped is through their attendance at a programme recently launched by the Scottish Government. Constructs: Positive Steps to Stop Offending is a nationally accredited programme which aims to help participants reduce the likelihood of being involved in further offending by helping change the way they think and behave.

Specifically, this groupwork programme is designed to help participants
learn and practice new ways about how they think about and respond to problems:

practising methods of problem solving
learning and practising a number of other skills to reduce the risk of re-offending such as assertiveness, dealing with conflict and resisting peer group pressure.
developing a detailed plan for avoiding offending in the future
Constructs is not an easy option, although it has a high likelihood of helping people change. It requires attendance at weekly sessions over a period of six months; if participants miss a session, they are required to attend a 'catch-up' session before the next scheduled session, and all group members are expected to do 'homework' exercises.

What Probation services do we offer for the less serious offender?

Not all probationers have committed serious offences, and sometimes the court thinks that a small amount of help is required to put someone back on the right path. In such cases, we offer an intensive period of supervision for a short time, and may well be able to put them in touch with organisations dealing with particular problems. If all is going well, the person will normally move to a pattern of attending monthly reporting clinics.

How does Probation make a difference?

The approach to changing people's behaviour used by most Scottish Criminal Justice Social Work services is based on Cognitive-Behavoural Therapy. It brings techniques for changing behavior together with a focus on thoughts, assumptions and beliefs. Workers encourage offenders to think not just about their actions (including offending) but about how and why they rationalise these to themselves and others.

It is important that the offender learns to incorporate this new style of thinking about him or herself into daily life, and carrying out homework encourages this.

Are there particular types of offence which are managed differently?

We find that sex offenders have different learning needs from other offenders, and even if a sex offender is attending for individual appointments, he will normally be seen by two workers, this being the best way to challenge his behaviour. There can be great benefits in group work for sex offenders, and at present this is offered mainly by the Community Intervention Service for Sex Offenders, based in Edinburgh but operating across the Lothians and Scottish Borders area.

Men convicted of offences of domestic violence are also often required to attend groups, with a specialist programme devoted to the particular problems of this client-group.

Finally, female offenders do not usually have the same set of problems as male offenders, and it accepted at a national level that work looking at behaviour should not be carried out in mixed-sex groups. We have been able to run groupwork projects for female ofenders at various times; failing this, females will be seen on a one-to-one basis.