Moving probation Forward: Evidence, Arguments and Practice - Wing Hong Chui, Mike Nellis

My reasons for writing this review on "Moving Probation Forward" is to tell you how valuable I have found this book. I am currently in my second year as a Trainee Probation Officer. I would recommend this book to all Trainees' but it also would be valuable for all Probation staff, other Criminal Justice agencies, criminology students and anyone that wants a better understanding of the Probation Service.

Firstly a bit of background information on the Probation Service as I know that not everyone knows what the service does.

The National Probation Service of England and Wales supervisors' offenders who have been sentenced to a community order by a court and offenders who are released early on License from prison.

To become a qualified Probation Officer involves two years as a Trainee Probation Officer. This involves completing a degree and a NVQ level 4 with on the job training. Each year the nine consortiums of England and Wales take on a certain number of trainees. I won't lie, the two years is hard going and it is great when you find a book like this that is written in "understandable" English and covers all the areas that are of importance to your training.

So now the book..............

Firstly this book covers so many different aspects of the Probation Service:

To mention a few:

Theories of Crime
The Changes of the Probation Service
Research
Victims
Court Work
Skills in working with offenders
Risk of harm and reoffending
Human Rights
Electronic Monitoring
Working with Partnership agencies

The book is split into 16 chapters and has a brilliant, easy to use index. Each chapter covers a specific aspect of Probation but includes other aspects, for example, diversity, theories, policies. The chapters are well referenced, so further reading material can be found easily. At the end of each chapter is a summary made up of bullet points. This is helpful to understand the key points of each chapter without having to read every single page.

The first chapter is a good introduction to how the book is set out and briefly outlines the contents of each of the chapters. It also explains the origins and development of the Service.

Each chapter is written by different individuals, 14 in total and there is a section on these authors' backgrounds. The book is edited by Wing Hong Chui and Mike Nellis, who are well know for their writing within the criminal justice field.

I must acknowledge that this book is more specific to Trainee Probation Officers and staff within the agency. It would probably send other people to sleep if they did not have some interest in the subject. I have found it to be a very easy to use reference tool. It has been one of those books that you can pick up and be directed straight to the correct page you require, instead of trawling through hundreds of pages. I would recommend this book to any Trainee Probation officer or anyone who has an interest in the service. I can honestly say without this book I would not have passed so many academic assignments and to me is a must have for all Trainees or anyone who is considering a career in the service.

The book is published by Pearson Education Ltd in 2003, so it is still currently up to date on policies and legislation. It costs £24.99 in paperback and can be found in most bookshops and from Amazon. The ISBN 0 582 47277 6.

This book has been worth the £24.99 that it cost. I constantly use this as a reference book and I am sure that it will be valuable once I qualify.