IN-CJ Newsdesk 2025 – Brian Hogan on Relational Practice
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For this year’s IN-CJ Newsdesk, Brian Hogan offered a grounded and thoughtful reflection on how criminal justice practice is changing, and what this means for people working in frontline and supervisory roles. His contribution emphasised the importance of professional judgement, community-centred engagement, and organisational cultures that enable practitioners to learn, adapt, and remain purpose driven.
What came through most strongly in Brian’s discussion was the need to think about criminal justice not as a set of fixed procedures, but as a system shaped by relationships, local circumstances, and the lived experiences of both practitioners and the people they work with. He noted that the most effective forms of supervision and support are those that make space for discretion and responsiveness, particularly where people face complex social and personal challenges.
A recurring theme in Brian’s contribution was the tension between policy ambition and operational reality. He set out how new expectations are frequently placed on staff without due consideration of the pressures they face, or the conditions needed to implement change well. According to Brian, sustainable improvement depends on organisational cultures that value reflection and enable teams to identify what works in practice. He highlighted examples where practitioners, when trusted to use their professional insight, have been able to create more meaningful and consistent forms of support.
Another point Brian stressed was the significance of interagency working. Criminal justice agencies, he argued, can only be effective when they understand how their roles intersect with healthcare, housing, education, and community services. He encouraged a shift towards shared problem-solving rather than siloed responses, reinforcing the idea that no single service can address the structural and personal factors shaping offending behaviour.
Brian also reflected on the emotional dimension of this work. He described how the expectations placed on practitioners can be difficult to reconcile with everyday pressures, especially when caseloads are heavy or support systems are limited. Creating an environment in which practitioners feel able to pause, question, and seek support is, in his view, essential for protecting wellbeing and ensuring consistent practice.
His contribution aligns with the wider themes of IN-CJ’s development work, particularly the focus on knowledge exchange, experiential insight, and reflective learning. By situating professional practice within broader social and organisational contexts, Brian invited listeners to consider not only what criminal justice agencies do, but how they understand their purpose and connection to the communities they serve.
This year’s Newsdesk emphasised that the future of criminal justice practice depends on the ability to share experiences across systems and borders. Brian Hogan’s contribution was an important part of this, offering a practitioner centred perspective grounded in daily realities but attentive to long-term change.
