Researching risk in the probation service

This paper will draw upon research and consultancy experience across a numb er of projects on risk assessment and management in the Probation Service b etween 1993 and 1999. The projects reflect a range of sponsors and funders, from central government bodies such as the Home Office and the Scottish Of fice, to professional, managerial and employment bodies such as the Associa tion of Chief Officers of Probation and the Central Council of Probation Co mmittees, to individual Probation Service areas. The projects have required engagement with different levels of staff and different vested interests, including the professional/union bodies representing the management and off icer grades respectively, in addition to central government policy makers. All the projects have had an applied policy and practice focus. The paper b egins with a review of current ethical and political dilemmas in research o n offender risk assessment, and then contemporary responses to ethical dile mmas are critically reviewed, followed by an outline of "practice guidance" for researchers. The paper concludes by arguing that researchers in the so cial arena should be subject to the same standards of defensible decision m aking as their counterparts in social care practice, and that essential to such defensibility is the transparent demonstration of the "grounds" upon w hich ethical decisions are made.