This Handbook is an essential text for anybody working in probation, studying the subject as part of wider criminology or criminal justice course. It provides a comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date source of information and analysis about all aspects of the work of the Probation Service.

Loraine Gelsthorpe is Reader in Criminology and Criminal Justice, and Director of the MPhil Programme in Criminology at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge; she is also a Fellow of Pembroke College.

Rod Morgan is Professor Emeritus at the University of Bristol and Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics. Until February 2007 he was Chairman of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales and prior to that, HM Chief Inspector of Probation for England and Wales.

Preface by (Chief Executive, NOMS) Introduction Part 1: The Story of Probation in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland Introduction 1. Humanising justice: the English Probation Service up to 1972 2. Towards a correctional service 3. Probation, governance and accountability 4. The Probation Service as Part of NOMS in England and Wales: fit for purpose? 5. Probation in Scotland: past, present and future 6. Probation, the state and community 'delivering probation services in Northern Ireland Part 2: Probation Services - Impact, Prospects and Potential in Everyday Practice Introduction 7. Services before trial and sentence:achievement, decline and potential 8. Assessment, supervision and intervention: fundamental practice in probation9. Sentencing, community penalties and the role of the Probation Service 10. Youth justice 11. Dealing with diversity in probation 12. Prolific/persistent offenders and desistance 13. High-risk offenders and public protection 14. The resettlement of ex-prisoners Part 3: What Works in Probation? Introduction 15. Effectiveness: who counts what? 16. Past, present and future sentences: what do we know about their effectiveness? 17. Probation values and human rights 18. Working for and with victims of crime 19. Partnerships in probation 20. Community penalties, sentencers, the media and public opinion