Supervision requirements are widely used within the Probation Service when working with offenders. The reason they are so beneficial to the work we do is because they are versatile and an excellent way of monitoring and managing risk. Supervision requirements can be adapted to fit any type of offending behaviour and therefore the majority of offenders are assessed as suitable for a supervision requirement.
A supervision requirement goes beyond monitoring and managing compliance and it can involve many aspects of probation intervention. Supervision is used to undertake work to promote personal and behavioural change. It enables the offender manager to monitor and review patterns of behaviour and personal activity. It is used to undertake motivational work and provide practical support. Pre and post programme work is undertaken in supervision and it can also be used to deliver individual counselling (National Implementation guide, May 2003).
Unlike the offending behaviour programmes the word supervision does not specifically describe what work is undertaken. Therefore people who are not directly involved in the supervision process can sometimes form the opinion that this requirement is not offence focused, however this is a myth. This requirement is used as an arena where the offender’s thoughts and behaviours can be assessed and challenged in an environment where they feel safe to identify what changes they want to make to their lives. This is achieved through many types of interventions.Motivational interviewing deploys strategies to enable the offender to discover for themselves how they could change their behaviour without being instructed to make changes. The theory behind this is that the offender will feel empowered as although they have been guided by the offender manager they have realised themselves the benefits of avoiding re-offending. There are also a number of other interventions used within supervision including brief solution focused therapy, one to one domestic abuse or aggression replacement training, drugs and alcohol intervention and other cognitive behavioural approaches.
Many offenders feel more conformable in a one to one setting rather than a group, however they are still encouraged to leave their comfort zone and supervision can be used to prepare them for group intervention. However the real strength of supervision is that it is an effective way to monitor and manage risk as offenders are more likely to disclose issues to their offender manager in a one to one setting rather than in a group. It is in these sessions where the offender manager can make an accurate assessment of the individual and challenge or address any issues which could indicate an increase in risk of harm. Therefore a supervision requirement is essential in enabling the probation service to work towards our aims of protecting the public and reducing re-offending, this is why we would always propose a supervision requirement is cases where the risk of harm is assessed as being at medium or above.
Without supervision requirements effective risk management could not be undertaken. The versatility of these requirements also gives the opportunity for the offender managers to address all the areas which are linked to an individual’s offending and in many cases there can be multiple factors linked to offending behaviour. It is during these sessions and this regular contact (initially at a minimum of once a week) where the progress or deterioration of an individual can be detected and addressed which may not be identified through other requirements. Without a supervision requirement offender managers would not have the opportunity to form successful working relationships with the offenders and therefore would have little or no impact in helping them to make positive changes in their lives.
