Sensing probation in Canada: Notes on affect and penal aesthetics in risk assessment

Abstract

Based on 6 years of probation practitioner experience in a metropolis of Canada, I provide an autoethnographic account reflecting on my fieldwork as I now commence doctoral studies. Contributing to discussions of experience in the penal atmosphere, I explore personal ethics and values, looking specifically to LSI-R software, where my experience with risk-based programming indicates a subjugation of both supervisees and supervisors. Studying penal aesthetics within the version of the software I used to assess criminogenic risk thus elucidates why evaluators tend to score their risk ratings upward rather than downward. Implications for a desistance paradigm are juxtaposed to the RNR model of offender management, where sensing visual and haptic stimuli pertains to an algorithmic governance mode limiting human connection. I conclude by reflecting on organisational values and behaviour to indicate where therapeutic alliances with criminalised people intersect criminalisation and desistance.