ABSTRACT
Probation, understandably, contains far fewer papers in the 1940s but the beginning of a growth in the confidence of the profession is evidenced by an increase in papers from within the Service. The war years inevitably slowed down professional progress but they stimulated some interesting concerns about causes of crime that included the dominance of the mother in the home; the increased influence of female teachers; and free expression in education. The training at Rainer House lasted for nine to twelve months, and it involved a residential component in which lectures were given on casework, law, social administration, criminology and specialist areas of probation work. One of the key contributors to Home Office training is less sanguine, believing that there was 'a real difficulty in training officers in the scientific and critical habit of mind necessary for such a thorough diagnosis of causes and systematic planning of treatment'.
