Although bright, Eddie left school early and, with nothing to do, committed a string of public order offences such as criminal damage. "He was heading into more serious stuff and becoming known to the courts," says the probation officer who was assigned to him for two years. After working with Eddie on his self-esteem, educating him about drug and alcohol abuse, finding him work on an early school leavers' programme and generally "putting structure back in his life", his probation officer can now say, with a trace of pride, "he hasn't come to the attention of the courts again".
This is a good example of the work the probation service does, and officers say they could do more if it was better resourced. But unfortunately, "the probation service is the Cinderella of the criminal justice system", according to Patrick O'Dea, press officer of the probation and welfare section of IMPACT. "It is a major player in the criminal justice system but needs major development and is starting from a very low base."
The service supervises 6,000 offenders in the community and provides about 6,000 reports to the courts annually, explains O'Dea. These are not limited to minor offences but go "all the way up to Central Criminal Court". "We have a huge range of responsibilities but I suppose the bottom-line responsibility is public safety, community safety," O'Dea says.
Unlike many workers in the State sector, pay is not high on probation officers' agendas. O'Dea says they are tied in with engineer grades in the civil service, most earning between £16,356 and £32,101.
What is problematic is the sheer workload. IMPACT recently described the service as being a "shambles", and judges are publicly commenting on its understaffing with increasing regularity. There are about 200 probation officers with another 46 promised. To date only seven have been recruited since the last advertising campaign; meanwhile natural wastage has reduced the existing staff by more than seven.
O'Dea says probation officers should have no more than 35 offenders, referred to as "clients", under their supervision. In Dublin, that figure is closer to 60 and in some rural areas, particularly the midlands, having 100 clients is not unknown.
The figures seem to speak for themselves but what do probation officers actually do? "It's very varied. The main work would be supervising offenders on probation orders and preparing pre-sanction reports for people before the courts," says Ina Hughes, an officer in Dundalk, Co Louth. "There is also community service supervision, supervising prisoners on temporary release, working with addiction and with young offenders."
In Dundalk, Hughes says: "We would see a lot of alcohol-related offences," but Sinead O'Connell, who works in north-east inner-city Dublin, says: "A huge amount of my work is drugs-related." She performs the same main tasks as Hughes but "I also sit in on management committees of one drugs group, one youth group and an after-drugs recovery group." Hughes's office's area extends as far as Cootehill in Co Cavan and although she admits there may be fewer problems there than in the capital, resources are more of an issue. "There would be more resources in a main urban town like Dundalk but even then that's not a huge amount. For example there are no treatment centres in the locality so if we were to refer someone for a residential addiction programme we would have to refer them to Dublin."
O'Connell describes a typical day: "I'm in the office most of the day today. I have a lot of reports to get through and a couple of clients that I am supervising to meet as well." Reports will normally be on the suitability of an offender for probation or community service. O'Connell will meet the offender. "The initial meeting is getting to know a bit about their background, themselves, what they did, the circumstances around the offence and factors like previous offending and family situation. There are identifiable risk factors which lead people into offending, and you are assessing the likelihood of reoffending," she says. "Ideally I would want to see someone three times; often that just isn't possible because of time constraints."
If a probation officer's report does not indicate suitability for probation, the judge may choose from a number of sentences other than prison. If the report relates to community service and is not favourable, then the alternative will be prison. All the probation officers spoken to say they make a point of showing the report to clients and discussing it. Is this not a highly charged situation, letting a criminal know he will not be getting probation and may be going to prison?
"There are times when people don't take it well, but you have to stand over the report and ask `well what did you expect me to say; what I'm saying is the truth'," O'Connell says. Cases where she might observe: "I believe you have a problem with alcohol" and the response is a flat "I don't" are common. Having said that, "I have never been in a situation where I have feared violence, but if it came to that there is support around." Supervising those on probation or community service is the other major task undertaken by probation officers. Relationships with clients vary, as does the amount of work necessary.
"Sometimes you are just monitoring their progress, checking they are going to their drugs programme, for example. Some people I will see twice a week, some once a month. Sometimes people need support. One young lad is trying really hard to stay out of trouble and has asked to come in once a week because it helps him focus on staying out of trouble," O'Connell says. In a case like this the probation officer is part social worker, part therapist, working on ways to manage anger and think of things other than crime. To do this effectively, the probation officer must respect the individual but condemn the crime.
"Most of my clients would come from very deprived backgrounds and have been out of control from a young age. There was nothing for them in the school system and they left early," says Hughes.
Some people might point to the many from such backgrounds who do not offend and ask why resources should be directed towards those who do. Patrick O'Dea says that it is in the interests of the community that the service be adequately provided for. "Well-structured, well-focused, well-managed probation schemes are more effective in interrupting offending patterns than custody, and research from other jurisdictions generally shows that point." Hughes says: "I've had some where you thought `I don't know about this chap, I think he's heading for a life of crime' and they have turned themselves around . . . at the end of the day society is going to be a better place."
As for Eddie (not his real name) mentioned at the beginning of this article, "he rang last week to say he was working away. You aren't going to change everyone and you shouldn't think you will but it's positive and rewarding when you see that," says his officer.
