Justice in the community
Probation Service Director Mark Wilson outlines ambitious plans to expand non-custodial sentences.
The recent publication of the Review of Policy Options for Prison and Penal Reform 2022 – 2024 by the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee TD, highlighted the critical role of the Probation Service in the Criminal Justice System. The review’s central narrative, that adequate, appropriate and proportional punishment is necessary for those who commit crimes, alongside the rehabilitation of offenders and their reintegration back into society, places the Probation Service at the heart of the priorities outlined in this important review.
Director of the Probation Service, Mark Wilson believes that the Probation Service is central to ensuring that non-custodial sentences can make communities safer, can reduce re-offending and can help to re-integrate those who have offended back into society.
Wilson’s office on the fifth floor of the Haymarket building in Smithfield offers a panoramic view across the roof tops of Dublin’s north inner city, stretching all the way to the Dublin mountains in the distance. At ground level is the vibrant Smithfield square and the long established community of Dublin 7; a little further west along the quays is the Criminal Court of Justice. The Probation Service headquarters are positioned, appropriately, at the centre of the community but just a stone’s throw from the heart of the State’s criminal courts system.
That link between the community and the justice system is central to the work of the Probation Service, with 35 offices nationwide and probation officers based in each one of the country’s 12 prisons.
Having worked in the criminal justice system for almost 30 years, Wilson is keenly aware that the role of the Probation Service, first and foremost, is to implement the orders of the courts and to hold people accountable for the offences they have committed: “We do return people to court for non-compliance with their orders and that is really important. But we all know that if we do not want people to continue offending then we need to do more than just punish. We can guide them towards rehabilitation when they come out of prison, or before they go in. That is the best way to keep our communities safe.”
That rehabilitation and reintegration takes place, for the most part, in the community. The Probation Service worked with more than 15,000 offenders in the community in 2021. Under Wilson’s direction, the Probation Service has set out clear ambitions to strengthen and expand community sanctions in order to support the policy options outlined in the recently published Review of Policy Options for Prison and Penal Reform, which acknowledged the efficacy and cost saving benefits of sanctions managed in the community. The review recommends developing and expanding the range of sanctions for medium to high-risk offenders. It also explores reducing the use of short sentences (especially less than three months) and looks at how the judiciary can be provided with a greater range of non-custodial sanctions.
The work to strengthen and enhance sanctions in the community is already well under-way at the Probation Service, with an operational review of community service due to be completed by the end of this year.
“We know community service is an effective alternative to short-prison sentences, placing the values of restitution, social integration and rehabilitation at its core. There are untapped opportunities to expand and we have committed to a root and branch review of community service to
maximise its potential,” explains Wilson.
To strengthen the work it does with people who have offended, and with victims, the Probation Service funds and works closely with a network of 60 community-based organisations nationwide. The organisation’s work with people who have offended, offering them various services including training, education and addiction courses, counselling services, specialists services for women and young people and targeted supports providing pathways back into employment. The projects are often managed by people from the same communities as the individual who is subject to a probation order.
Wilson firmly believes in the importance of maintaining and building strong links with communities. From his days as a youth and community worker, at the start of his career, he understands that communities are central to rehabilitating and reintegrating those who have offended.
He adds: “Public safety is not just a matter for the Gardai alone and inter-agency partnership is key to providing effective responses to crime.”
The Probation Service is part of a new government pilot initiative, the Local Community Safety Partnership launched in 2020, which brings together statutory services, the voluntary and community sector, local councillors and community members to work together to tackle community safety issues locally. It is currently being piloted in Longford, Waterford and Dublin’s north inner city with a view to expanding to other local authority areas across the country following a successful evaluation period.
The Probation Service supervises those who have come before the courts for minor offences, but also those who have served sentences for much more serious crimes. And this, Wilson says, underlines the need for a response from the service that is tailored to the individual: “We supervise people who are with us because of public order offences and we have people who have done serious harm, who have served life sentences; we work with women and young people, members of the Traveller community and those with addiction and with mental health issues. So we have the entire spread of the population and with each one it comes down to individual assessment of risk and need.”
On Wilson’s desk in Haymarket is a copy of Judge Gillian Hussey’s newly published memoir Lessons from the Bench. Judge Hussey, now retired, always had, he believes, a keen understanding of the important role the Probation Service plays in the justice system: “She appreciated that what the Probation Service offered, through our reports, helped her to build a broad picture of the person who had offended. As she described it herself in her book, she had the bones of the case, the evidence and the plea, but with Probation Service reports, which offered much more detail about that person’s life and background, she could suddenly see so much more.”
That is the added value that the Probation Service brings to the table, Wilson concludes, adding: “I see it as my job to ensure we are visible as a Probation Service and that we have the confidence of the public, the judiciary and the lawmakers to feel that investing in us to do our work is purposeful and worthwhile.”
T: +353 (0)1 817 3600
E: psinfo@probation.ie
W: www.probation.ie
