ABSTRACT
This chapter offers some insights into the gendered nature of the work of probation officers. Much of the work of the British Probation Service is with marginalised men. It reports a qualitative study of probation officers constructions of masculinity. The study found conflicting discourses of masculinity, each with different implications for working with men. Most front-line criminal justice personnel spend much of their time managing marginalised men, and this is particularly true of probation officers. Their role is one of both promoting offenders' welfare and of social control. Traditionally probation officers have not named men as men and have not had a critical perspective on masculinity. The chapter describes four ways of working which characterise as traditional masculinity discourse. Ostensibly non-gendered causal explanations for crime; accepting explanations at face value; a men-centred approach; and an approach to sentencing that constitutes almost blanket mitigation, that is, a default strategy of attempting to avoid punitive sentencing.
