ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to review the contribution of rehabilitative and reintegrative penalties, otherwise known as the stock in trade of probation services and similar agencies which supervise offenders as a court-imposed sanction, or as part of such a sanction. The chapter summarises the major lessons from international research efforts on the effectiveness of penalties and interventions falling under these headings, and reviews what is currently known about their effectiveness in Britain following several years of more or less systematic attempts to apply the lessons of that research. The resulting appraisal of current British efforts is mixed: while final evaluations of many initiatives are still awaited, achievements so far fall short of initial aspirations in several respects. However, because there has been an unprecedented investment in research to accompany the various innovations, a good deal can be learnt. The final section of the chapter outlines some of the reasons for these mixed results and makes some suggestions about future strategies.
