Interview with Steven Calder

Can you briefly summarise your time at the Institute of Criminology?

The MSt is done over two years. It's part time, so we only spent 3 blocks of two week each physically in the institute, then we did the essay-writing remotely in between.

There were three two-week blocks each year, and I'm one who likes to try and cram, and get the full experience. So, within those blocks, we got the full Cambridge experience. I stayed in the middle weekends to study and experience some of the highlights of Cambridge. We got to see a lot of the other colleges and every Wednesday evening on the MSt, you have a formal dinner and a lecture at a different college campus each time. You get to experience the variation in the Cambridge colleges, and also the pomp and ceremony that is very unique to Cambridge.

A highlight for me was to be able to engage and have lectures or seminars with the best in our field. That was really inspiring. Then there were the networks that I built, and the close friendships across both HMPPS but the wider criminal justice system and people that were engaged on the MST. It was unexpected, but a real benefit.  It broadened my scope and knowledge across my organisation, but also the wider sector.

I also went on a bit of a personal journey while at Cambridge. In the first week of the first block, there was a lecture on supporting students with specific neurodiverse needs. To be completely honest, I wasn't going to attend. I thought it didn’t really apply to me.

But I was encouraged to attend, and while sitting in that lecture on that very first slide, I was going, “that's me, that's me, that's me”. Following that, I spoke to someone from the student support. There was a full assessment done. And at the age of 50 I discovered that I was diagnosed with dyslexia and borderline dyspraxic traits, which gave me some real insight into myself and why I do certain things in certain ways.

What convinced you to study Criminology?

I suppose we need a little bit more on my background. I left school at 16. I grew up in East London, a working-class kid, school dinner kid. I left school with one C grade GCSE. I came into working in probation at 30 years old. My first real foray into higher education was through the bachelor's degree I did with Hertfordshire University as part of my training to become a probation officer.

I've been given quite a lot of opportunities through work, including the Cambridge MSt, but I also did a previous master's with another university. What really set Cambridge apart for me was it's one of the top three in in the world. The library is one of the top three criminological libraries. The staff, both within the institute itself and the guest speakers that come in during the course, are the best in the academic field.

There were points where some of my colleagues and I were having fanboy moments, when we were engaging with Alison Liebling or Ben Crewe about prison. These people's works influence our day-to-day jobs every day. Or for me and those from probation backgrounds, speaking to people like Loraine Gelsthorpe and Fergus McNeill and Shadd Maruna was a genuine joy. And what became apparent for me is that these academics-the best in the field, in my opinion- were getting as much out of the course from us. The students were all quite senior, experienced practitioners in our fields. We bring a lot to the table as well, and that balance of what we bring and what we get is what makes it unique.

Of course, there's some kudos with having been to Cambridge, and the hundreds of years of history and status that exist around that, which sets it apart from other universities as well.

I've done two other degrees, and never before did I get this level of support and recognition. I have to thank my supervisor Jane Dominey who really guided and encouraged me through the two years, along with the support from Homerton College in my diagnosis that support, and recognition, and helping me understand myself better was worth the two years of work. And I've done a really important piece of research that's now impacting my field.

Why did you decide to come to Cambridge?

Well, because it's the field that I've ended up in my employment. But that's directly linked to me working in probation.

As I said, I grew up in in East End of London, and I often say that on a flip of a coin, I'd be sitting on the other side of the desk. I've experienced through close friendships, and my own life experience, this belief in the power of change. I’ve seen what leads people into criminality, but my focus has always been about what brings them out the other side, that desistance journey. As a probation practitioner, the modern term would be professional curiosity.

It's just a skill that’s found throughout criminology and it’s about understanding what makes people tick, understanding the reasons for crime and desistance. It’s something that really always interests me, and it's my belief in that power of change that led me into working in this field.

One of my reasons for coming and wanting to do the MSt at Cambridge was to get that exposure to the bigger picture and really just strengthen and broaden my understanding. One of my big takeaways from the course itself was a real understanding that despite very different approaches, the desire throughout the system to facilitate change was very mirrored. But I also had some real wake up moments about how the system also hinders some of that change.

Can you briefly describe your thesis?

Early on in the course I began thinking about Serious Further Offences and how the subsequent review process is experienced by staff and decision-makers like me. So, I pivoted and used my second year in the course to do a piece of work around that. It looked at exploring both the experience and, more importantly, the perception of the serious further offence process within probation practice.

I did that with a qualitative piece of work across two probation regions, joining practitioners through focus groups, and then semi structured interviews with decision-makers. These were made up of people that conducted reviews, alongside people that have to implement or sign off on the action plans.

So, it explored those perceptions and found that this process is a complex one. The perception of that process is not always aligned with the actual experience of the process, but there is some evidence it may hinder learning. But also, there is definitely a connection or perception around fear or blame that exists.

They really highlighted the experience that a practitioner goes through when a serious offence occurs under their watch. This process is almost akin to the grief process. There are stages, firstly of empathy for the poor victim, followed by self-blame and guilt, asking how this could happen under their watch. This then goes to a place of fear- “what's going to happen to me now? I'm going to be pulled over coals”. It's a process, with emotional context.

So yeah, so I ended up with three key themes: one about the process itself being a contested purpose- it's grown over the years and is trying to do too many things. Another theme was about this emotional context, and the final theme was around the procedural justice of the process itself, and how that's experienced by practitioners.

What have you gone onto since graduating?

So, part of my reason for doing the course was that a couple of years ago I recognised that I've got to quite a senior level, but everyone above me seems to have this MSt on their CV.  So, part of it was about career progression for me.

I only graduated in July [2024]. I've taken in a lot of learning. It's given me a much broader perspective on criminal justice, and on the impact we as practitioners have on people subject to prison or probation. It's given me a greater understanding of HMPPS as a wider organisation, and where our values really align. It’s allowed me to build some really strong networks of other senior leaders across both prison and probation, which has been really useful that I hope I can take into my new role working in the national team overseeing the implementation of policy and projects around how probation delivers on sentence management and practice.

In terms of my research, I've presented my thesis to the central SFO team that are responsible for the review process and to Senior leaders within HMPPS. It's being used to inform and influence a wider review of the process, and I've been asked to be a critical friend of that new process when it emerges. So, it's definitely increased my profile. The research feels like it's being used in a really tangible way, which is quite a joyful moment for me.

There's always a risk you go off and do what you feel is a really great piece of research, then it sits on a shelf somewhere and doesn't do anything. But it feels like I've got some real tangible impact, which was always one of my aims. If the organisation is going to invest 2 years of my time and money in my development, then I would like something tangible at the end. And it feels like I've got that.

Then, just on a really personal local level, some of my learning has really influenced how I engage with my team and their decision-making. There's a bit of a change of language for me around serious further offences, but also around how we work with pre-release, how we do things like recall, and how I actually think about the wider impact of the decisions we make as practitioners on a day-to-day basis.

Can you give some examples of how you have used learning from the course in your career?

I'm much more conscious about language that I use now, and I'll give you an example that leaks directly back to my research.

Part of my research finding was this perception of fear and perception of blame. So, perception is really important now. Even when the organisation is not trying to do that, some staff felt that it was associated. When I had conversations with some of the decision makers in the research, they used quite negative language on occasions linked with serious further offences.

One of the processes we have to do on every single probation case, is complete a risk assessment and an initial sentence plan. In the past, I potentially would have used language like, “right, make sure you get your ISP done, because there's a serious further offence”. Where I've shifted to instead is, “make sure you do your ISP, because this is the foundation on the work we do with this individual”. It's a really nuanced shift. But instead of using those serious forever offences in case this bad thing might happen, it's about flipping it around to an almost appreciative instruction. So actually, this is a positive reason we're doing this thing, not turning a serious further offence on you as a weapon of fear.

What was the most important thing criminology taught you?

I suppose for me, I learned to look at areas where I had no or very limited experience. It can be very easy, particularly in year one, to stick within a comfort zone and only study and pick essay questions that relate to your field of practise.

I decided to change stuff around. I did something around punishment and why we punish, and whether we should give prisoners a vote. And then probably one of my more challenging ones was exploring brain development and its links to criminality. It really  broadened my scope of knowledge, but also got me to explore some of the societal, biological, and environmental factors that play into criminology at a much deeper level.

It's given me a greater deal of respect of the interdisciplinary element as well- the idea that it’s not just a theory of punishment, but actually there's a whole scope of interdisciplinary research that can help us understand that journey. As I said, the criminological field that really interests me is the why of crime, but more importantly, what does the journey out criminality look like?

What would you say to somebody who was going to study Criminology?

Just embrace every single aspect, from the study to the experience of the different sites in the university, the different campuses, Cambridge as a whole. Buy the gown, go to the formal dinners, enjoy the social side. I suppose the big surprises for me were around that network and the friendships I formed.

Is there anything you would like to have known about Cambridge when you started?

I don't know. I felt really well supported and I'd known some of the previous people that had done it. It gave me a real overview. I felt quite supported going into the MSt.

I suppose I would have liked more clarity on how intense it was going to be and how much I would have to invest quite personally in the course. But ultimately, my lasting view is yes, it's challenging, probably the most challenging thing I've ever done. But the rewards and the outcome are at an equal level, so it's probably one of the most rewarding things I've ever done as well. I can’t articulate how grateful I am to have had the experience. It was topped with having my picture (above) taken on the steps of the senate building at graduation with my daughter, who has just started her own journey working in probation.

2 January 2025