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Professor Rob Canton

Published:

De Montfort University

  1. Support people in their own endeavour
  2. Emotional literacy is needed
  3. Treat people with respect
If probation speaks for society, it must be careful about what it has to say on our behalf

Biography

Rob Canton is Emeritus Professor in Community and Criminal Justice at De Montfort University, Leicester, and an Honorary Professor at the University of Nottingham. He worked for the Nottinghamshire Probation Service for some 20 years in a number of different roles.

He has contributed to probation development and general penal reform in more than ten different countries, mainly in Eastern Europe. He was co-opted to the Council of Penological Cooperation in the Council of Europe to develop the European Probation Rules (2007 – 2010) and again in 2015 –2016 to revise the European Rules on Community Sanctions and Measures.

He also acted as a Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Justice Select Committee in its Inquiry into the Role of the Probation Service (2010 – 2011). His publications include Why Punish? (2017), Probation (second edition with Jane Dominey, 2017), and Punishment (2022). He is Patron of the Probation Institute.

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