The National Probation Service and Modernisation.

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During the course of discussing the chosen topic area, (Probation Service and Modernisation) I will examine the role of the Probation Service and/or the role of Probation Officers. I will outline the key objectives of the NPS. By looking at the history of the NPS I will be able to evaluate the contribution made by the NPS to the Criminal Justice Service. With reference to this question I shall then examine and analyse key policy frameworks looking at ways in which they have contributed to the history and development of the NPS. Finally, I will give a critical and analytical conclusion about the subject matter, using relevant research.

The Home Office clearly defines the aims of the NPS as follows:

*Protecting the Public

*Reducing re-offending

*The proper punishment of offenders in the community

*Ensuring offender' awareness of the effects of crime on the victims of crime and the public

*Rehabilitation of offenders

These aims operate within the Government's Correctional Policy Framework which primarily contributes towards ensuring "the effective delivery of justice, avoiding unnecessary delay, through efficient investigation, detection, prosecution and court procedures.

(Web page, National Probation Service, 09/04/03)

During the early 19th Century, it was common practise for magistrates to commit young offenders into the care of suitable and willing employers. It has been argued that this practice heralded foundations on which the probation service was built. More developments in the middle of the 19th Century saw the extension of the jurisdiction of the magistrate's court and because of moral panic about the extent of drunkenness and drink related offences two Church of England Temperance Society officers were appointed to work within some of the London Courts.

1887 saw the Probation of First Offenders Act passed which introduced the concept of probation; however, it was not until 20 years later...