ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores influences on policy and the theoretical basis that informs practice. It considers how policies work out in practice – not always, perhaps, in the manner expected by those who make the policies. The book aims that probation has often been pushed in wrong directions by punitivism. It considers how the marketisation of probation and the increased involvement of the private sector might influence the experience of service users and staff, and might shape how probation is regarded by sentencers and the public. Many people who have committed crimes have been profoundly disadvantaged in many ways, and in its attempts to redress this situation, probation makes an invaluable contribution to social justice as well as to criminal justice and public safety.
