Bringing a human rights-based approach to the supervision of court orders

In the context of an increasing role for human rights in public life, there is a developing literature on its contribution to social work, firmly establishing social work as a human rights profession. Although human rights has impacted on criminal justice generally, comparatively little has been written about what it means for social work practice in community justice settings. This chapter explores the application of a human rights-based social work approach to the supervision of court orders by drawing parallels between the approach and contemporary desistance-focused practice in one particular jurisdiction. It concludes that a human rights-based approach to supervision in the community that promotes access to the range of rights afforded to all citizens brings a commonly understood legal foundation and universal values to add legitimacy and credibility to support effective practice.