Building Relationships with Offenders

Abstract

Marina is a newly qualified probation officer who has been supervising Sadie, a young woman charged with credit card offences, committed jointly with her partner, Robert. Marina has worked slowly and gently with Sadie, recognising her vulnerability and her fearfulness, and that most of her offending behaviour has stemmed from her relationship with Robert. As Sadie’s trust in Marina has developed she has begun to talk about occasions when Robert has been violent towards her. Marina has found this hard to hear, as she was herself a victim of domestic violence some years earlier and she finds herself telling Sadie about some of her own experiences. Her impulse is to tell Sadie that she must report Robert for his violence and she must leave him and go to a women’s refuge in the town. Sadie is resistant to this and begins to withdraw in the sessions, becoming much less open with Marina.