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 analyse internationally significant theoretical and empirical work on offender supervision, and to address the policy and practice implications of this work within and across jurisdictions. Arising out of the work of the international Collaboration of Researchers for the Effective Development of Offender Supervision (CREDOS), this book examines questions and issues that have arisen both within effectiveness research, and from research on desistance from offending. The book draws out the lessons that can be learned not just about ‘what works?’, but about how and why particular practices support desistance in specific jurisdictional, cultural and local contexts.

Key themes addressed in this book include:

• New directions in theory and paradigms for practice
• Staff skills and effective offender supervision
• Different issues and challenges in improving offender supervision
• The role of families, ‘significant others’ and social networks
• Understanding and supporting compliance within supervision
• Exploring the social, political, organisational and historical contexts of offender supervision

Offender Supervision will be essential reading for academics, undergraduate and postgraduate students, policy makers, managers and practitioners interested in offender supervision.

Fergus McNeill, Peter Raynor, Chris Trotter