ABSTRACT
Drawing on a wider project that used visual methods to document the spatial context of community supervision – specifically the architecture and environs of probation officers – this chapter focuses on data collected in two jurisdictions (England and Northern Ireland). Drawing on the images, which were generated by practitioners, it explores the nature of probation practice which has a long lineage in both countries, but which is currently undergoing significant structural changes. The chapter considers what images can tell us about the practices and culture(s) of probation in these contexts. It explores the potential of photo-elicitation to investigate the normative aspects of probation: that is, how it ought to be, from the perspectives of stakeholders and other interested audiences. The chapter considers three theoretical challenges that are encountered: photovoice and the empowerment of probation workers; unpeopled photographs and the 'presence of absence' and buildings and a 'sense of place' in the shaping of probation work.
