ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book consists of analysis of data on the offending behaviour of young offenders in contact with the English probation service. It offers a typology of offending based on the accounts given by the probation officers involved, of how they understood the problems of these young people and what they had tried or would try to do about them. The chapter describes the policy context in which the probation officers were working. Criminal justice policy is formed within a wider context of policy which largely determines the room for manoeuvre which probation officers have, as well as having an impact on the lives of offenders and the choices open to them. The chapter concludes that while changes in criminal justice policy can certainly have an important impact on probation officers' practice their general effect on offending and offenders is likely to be minimal.
