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39 Prob. J. 2 (1992)

handle is hein.journals/probj39 and id is 1 raw text is: Intensive Probation Supervlsion: Does More Mean Better? Gill McIvor of the Social Work Research Centre at the University of Stirling reviews British and North American research on the effectiveness of intensive group projects and cautions against increased control without heeding the social and personal problems experienced by offenders. he 1980s wit- nessed the development in Britain of probation pro- jects which work inten- sively with groups of (us- ually young) offenders with a view to achieving reductions in offending behaviour. Such programmes are often multi-dimensional in nature, drawing upon a range of intervention methods to address the problems and issues associated with offending behaviour. The focus may be upon par- ticular types of offences; upon the ac- quisition of social or cognitive skills; and/or upon increasing the integration of offenders into their local com- munities. The development of such projects has no doubt been further encourag- ed by recent studies which have shown that intensive group work with high tariff probationers can have a positive impact upon offending behaviour. Raynor1, for example, found that young offenders who attended the Afan project in West Glamorgan - an intensive group work project employ- ing psychodrama, sociodrama, offence- focused work and problem-solving techniques - had lower levels of reconviction after six and 24 months in comparison with a similar group of young offenders who were released from custodial sentences. Further evidence of the effec- tiveness of intensive group-based ap- proaches with offenders at risk of a custodial sentence has been presented by Roberts2 in his evaluation of the