Despite increased interest in the risk factors for assault in the correctional system, related research has primarily focused on the predictors of violence and fear in carceral settings, such as prisons and jails, while largely neglecting the challenges faced by officers supervising offenders in the community. Guided by a lifestyle–routine activity theory approach, this study aims to expand our understanding of the risk factors for physical assault, verbal abuse, and fear of victimization among probation officers in South Korea. Analyzing data gathered from a sample of 536 probation officers, the findings reveal that several guardianship measures such as adequate safety and health measures within the organization, effective hierarchical communication, and protection against disciplinary sanctions significantly protect officers from assault and the fear of being attacked by clients. However, we observe mixed findings regarding the influence of officers’ routines (e.g., the supervision of juvenile offenders) and vulnerability characteristics (e.g., gender, age, rank) on actual abuse versus the fear of victimization. This study initiates an important conversation regarding the situational characteristics of probation work environments and yields critical evidence to inform policymaking and safety protocols.
This reflective piece explores the contradictory position of working within the criminal justice system while living with the unreported experience of domestic and sexual abuse. Drawing from my time working within Police Scotland, it examines how insider knowledge of institutional procedures, priorities and cultures can deter survivors from seeking justice, particularly when employed within the very structures meant to protect them. My decision not to report was not rooted in uncertainty about what had happened to me, but in the certainty of what would happen if I did. Knowing how survivors are scrutinised, how credibility is negotiated and how trauma is often minimised by professionals, including colleagues, meant that silence felt safer than disclosure. The piece explores the intersections of professional identity and lived trauma, examining how gendered assumptions within policing, expectations of emotional detachment, and cultures of resilience work to silence women officers and survivors alike. I argue for a systemic shift that not only acknowledges lived experience within the workforce, but dismantles the cultural and structural barriers that keep women silent – even those wearing the uniform.
Foreign national prisoners and people under supervision (FNPs) are an increasingly salient feature of Southeast Asian prison populations, yet the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) lacks an operational framework for transferring or recognizing post-release community supervision. In practice, many FNPs are deported at sentence completion with little structured aftercare, producing a reintegration cliff and avoidable public safety risk. Drawing on socio-legal comparative analysis and aggregated administrative data, this article proposes the BRIDGES model: a phased, rights-based blueprint centred on standardized social inquiry reporting (Litmas – Penelitian Kemasyarakatan), bilateral supervision protocols and secure digital information-sharing. Lessons from EU and Trans-Tasman arrangements are adapted for ASEAN's institutional and cultural context.
Probation in England and Wales has undergone significant reform in recent decades, prompting ongoing discussion about professional identity, practitioner autonomy, and effective practice. Drawing upon probation literature, inspection findings, and contemporary debates, this article examines how professional identity, practitioner autonomy, and relational practice may contribute to the future development of probation. It considers the relationship between organisational structures and rehabilitative practice, the balance between risk management and rehabilitation, and the contribution of relational approaches, community engagement and partnership working to effective community supervision and positive outcomes.
In March 2023, the United Kingdom (UK) prosecuted its first case of human trafficking for organ removal (HTOR) under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 in R v Obeta . Drawing on case material gathered during Operation Manoa, the criminal investigation that led to the conviction, this article examines the distinctive challenges HTOR presents for policing, criminal justice, and victim protection. It focuses in particular on the contested criminalisation of people compelled, for various reasons, to sell an organ and the limited scope of the ‘non-punishment principle’ under section 45 of the Modern Slavery Act. The article also assesses recent and proposed amendments to section 22 of the Human Tissue Act introduced in response to growing concern over HTOR in the UK and internationally. It argues that, while these reforms express strong normative condemnation of HTOR, they do little to address the structural conditions behind the trade. The article therefore questions whether expanding criminal law, without corresponding regulatory reforms, for example, in global health governance, can provide more than a symbolic response to a deeply entrenched form of exploitation.
