Offender Supervision: New Directions in Theory, Research and Practice

This major new book brings together leading researchers in the field in order to describe and analyze internationally significant theoretical and empirical work on offender supervision, and to addressing the policy and practice implications of this work within and across jurisdictions. It arises out of the collaborative work of a new international network focusing on this area the Collaboration of Researchers for the Effective Development of Offender Supervision (CREDOS). The starting point of the book is that although the 'what works' movement in probation research had achieved a great deal, new impetus was necessary to allow the effectiveness agenda to develop beyond its historical emphasis on the principles of effective programmes and into a much wider range of questions and issues. These questions and issues arise both from within effectiveness research itself (for example, about the role of workers' practice styles and approaches and about the organisational contexts of programme work) and from research on desistance from offending and how it can be best supported (for example, about the significance of personal and professional relationships in the process, and about the importance of developing social capital).The book also explores issues of diversity amongst offenders in relation to effective supervision, and draws out the lessons that can be learned about what works in specific jurisdictional, cultural and local contexts and about whether and to what extent there are practices in and approaches to offender supervision that work across diverse contexts. This book will be essential reading for academics, undergraduate and postgraduate students, policy makers, managers and practitioners interested in offender supervision.

Fergus McNeill is Professor of Criminology and Social Work at the University of Glasgow where he works in the Scottish Centre for Crime and justice Research. Peter Raynor is Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Swansea University. Chris Trotter is Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at Monash University, Melbourne.