ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the effective supervision of offenders in the community on probation and other court orders. It reviews the research that suggests that community supervision can be effective in reducing recidivism. Chris Trotter found that problem solving was related to recidivism but significantly related only to compliance with conditions, rather than reoffending. The chapter considers the research which has examined the relevance of the general supervision principles as they apply to the supervision of violent offenders, including violent sex offenders. Effective supervision is characterised by the presence of pro-social modelling, reinforcement, and problem solving. P. Raynor et al. found problem solving significantly related to reduced offending at both one-year and two-year follow-up. They found cognitive skills to be the only skills that were related to recidivism after taking risk into account. Trotter found in both studies that low-, medium-, and high-risk offenders had lower reoffending when their workers had good skills.
