This article explains why a clarion call to action is necessary in regards to prioritising criminal justice social work in India. Partially relying upon the existing crime and prison statistics, it ...appears clear that greater involvement of social workers in the criminal justice system can only bode well, not only for offenders but also victims of crime, as well as their respective families and communities. To that end, various issues pertaining to correctional social work, police social work, the intersections between social work and criminology, social work education and professional training, as well as the tension between legal/enforcement and welfare/development approaches are traversed here.
This paper attempts to explain the two main aspects of social work in the Indian prison context: the first and foremost being the current status and scope of professional social work in Indian ...prisons; the second, to review the reports of various committees and prison manuals that emphasised the need for, and the role of, professional social workers in prisons, and to describe the role of the social workers as per the Model Prison Manual and to explain the inevitability of their greater participation in correctional institutions of India.
