Forms of the probation officer’s institutional assistance to victims of physical violence

Abstract

This article is devoted to the service of social probation officers involved in criminal as well as family and juvenile work. The aim of the article is to show the most effective forms of the probation officer’s institutional assistance to victims of physical violence. The first section examines the specifics of the work of social probation officers, with a focus on a distinction between the work of the Criminal Probation Service and the Family and Juvenile Probation Service teams. The following section defines the different types of violence, explains the specifics of the occurrences and phases of physical violence, and analyses the sociological and psychological approach towards the phenomenon of physical violence and its legal basis. The next section discusses various forms of institutional assistance: the Police, the Health Services, Social Assistance Centres and Crisis Intervention Centres. The conclusion identifies the most effective forms of institutional assistance by analysing and summarising the survey results obtained. The arguments in this article are based on quantitative research using a diagnostic survey method conducted among a group of active social probation officers, as well as on the literature on the subject and the author’s own professional practice.