ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces what might be seen as the main work of probation, the supervision of offenders in the community. The emergence of cognitive behavioural approaches will first be considered. This way of understanding and influencing behaviour provided an evidence-based, theoretical coherence for probation practice and underpinned the claims that what works with offenders was now beginning to be understood: the characteristics of effective interventions could be identified and used to guide future policy and practice. The chapter concludes with some discussion of motivation, which is evidently crucial in any attempt to bring about change.
