My pledge to drive down re-offending
Reporter: RICHARD HOOTON
Date published: 15 August 2011
STRATEGY: new head of Oldham probation Sarah Jarvis
OLDHAM has a new head of probation who has pledged to involve communities to bring down re-offending rates.
Sarah Jarvis has been appointed to lead 83 staff based in three offices in the borough — Bridge Street, Rochdale Road and Brunswick House where they supervise offenders on community sentences and prison licences.
The organisation is part of the Greater Manchester Probation Trust.
Sarah qualified as a trainee probation officer in Bradford and latterly was West Yorkshire’s area manager with responsibility for delivering programmes and activities aimed at addressing offending behaviour.
She said: “I am particularly keen to involve communities at a neighbourhood level in ways to drive down re-offending across the borough.
“I am impressed by the services and organisations I’ve met in Oldham so far and I am looking forward to working hand-in-hand with the public, private and voluntary sectors to make the best use of the resources we have and use them in a creative way to tackle crime.”
Sarah first trained in the legal profession and was initially attracted to probation after carrying out a volunteer role as a student at a pioneering victim and offender mediation scheme, which ran in the late 1990s. She added: “I became very much involved in the project, the sessions were often powerful experiences that exposed me to the real- life impact of probation interventions as a way to facilitate change in the lives of both offenders and victims.
“For the offender, the experience contributed to holding them to account for their crimes and helped move them towards eventual rehabilitation.
“For the victim, the mediation could help support their recovery.
“The idea of creating the right space for offenders and victims to meet is a key feature of restorative justice and forms a part of this government’s rehabilitation revolution.”
Sarah succeeds Penny Barker, who has left to join Lancashire Probation Trust as deputy chief executive.
