Motivational interviewing for probation staff: Increasing the readiness to change

In the field of criminal justice, evidence-based practice has recommended that justice staff be responsive to motivational issues with offenders. This first of a two-part article demonstrates practical ways to respond to that recommendation. In our own field of criminal justice, evidence-based practice as outlined by criminologists has recommended that justice staff be responsive to motivational issues with offenders. This series demonstrates practical ways to respond to that recommendation. This article will examine the climate across the criminal justice field (the macro perspective), within probation departments (the mezzo perspective), and within the individual pairing of any officer and offender (the micro perspective). It would seem that probation, as a criminal justice entity, is much like the railroad industry of our past century-for it has come to believe that it is in the probation business rather than the behavior change business. Our field seems primarily concerned with the process of probation-insuring adequate supervision, compliance with probation orders and the completion of mounds of attendant paperwork. Process takes center stage rather than a principal focus on strategies and techniques that will encourage positive behavior change (outcomes). The problem lies in the mindset that pervades the probation and parole field that allows outcomes to take a back seat to process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)