Introduction

Long-term rising crime rates and the public's reaction to this – bothfear and anger – have meant that law and order are high on thepolitical agenda in many countries. The majority of the Britishpublic appears to support an approach which is tough on crime (Tarling and Dowds, 1997) and, in TonyBlair's memorable phrase, tough on the causesof crime. This chapter is largely concerned withmeasures for dealing with offenders. However, punitive measures havedone little to arrest the increase in crime and it is difficult todemonstrate that punishment achieves the effect of deterringoffenders from reoffending (McGuire, 1995, p 4).

Crime is not a simple problem and reducing it is not a simple task.The criminal justice system consists of a variety of interests andagencies that need to work together in addressing this task. Theseinclude police forces, courts, prisons, and the probation service.The system as a whole seeks to prevent crime where possible, convictthose who are guilty of crime, and provide appropriate forms ofpunishment and/or rehabilitation for known offenders. In addressingthese aims policy makers and practitioners have available a largebody of, sometimes conflicting, research evidence relating to thecauses of criminal behaviour and the effectiveness of variousprescriptions for dealing with it.

A recent review of the available research on what is effective inreducing offending (Home Office, 1998) considers the evidenceon:

• • promoting a less criminal society

• • preventing crime in the community

• • effective criminal justice interventions withoffenders.

This chapter focuses on the last of these areas – criminal justiceinterventions with convicted offenders, particularly those providedby the probation service (some consideration of evidence-basedpolicing is included as part of Chapter Eleven). This choice is notintended to imply that treatment is more important than prevention.We would not dissent from the view of those (such as Farrington,1989; Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990) who argue that emphasis shouldbe on the early prevention of crime rather than on the treatment orrehabilitation of known offenders. However, treatment will always bean important issue as “there is no such thing as a crime-freesociety” (Home Office, 1997, p 1).