Author: Robert Canton

Rob Canton is Professor in Community and Criminal Justice at De Montfort University, Leicester. Rob worked for the Nottinghamshire Probation Service for some 20 years in a number of different roles. While working as Senior Probation Officer in the Home Office Student Unit, he was invited to become a Visiting Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Nottingham and taught there for several years. Rob joined De Montfort in 2001, in due course coming to lead one of the largest probation educational programmes in the country. He was appointed professor in 2005. Rob has contributed to probation development and general penal reform in more than ten countries, mostly in Europe. His first such venture was as the Rapporteur for the Council of Europe Committee for the Reform of the Russian Prison System. He subsequently acted as a ‘Short Term Expert’ in a number of EU funded projects (PHARE Programme) to develop penal policy and practice. His involvement has gone well beyond presentations in large meetings and has included detailed discussion with senior policy makers and managers in national penal systems, as well as some local practitioner training. He was co-opted to the Council of Penological Cooperation in the Council of Europe to develop the European Probation Rules (2007 - 10) 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 - 11). In 2019, he was awarded Honorary Membership of the Confederation of European Probation in recognition of his work in developing probation policy and practice across Europe.