ABSTRACT
This chapter is about working with the families of offenders. It is focused particularly on the work that might be done by probation and parole officers (or others who work with offenders in the community) with young offenders and their families. It is also relevant to work with adult offenders. The chapter addresses the general relationships between ‘family dysfunction’ and criminality and between family dysfunction and reoffending. The literature on the effectiveness of working with the families of offenders is then discussed along with the general principles of effective work with offenders. One particular approach to working with families, collaborative family problem-solving, is then introduced and reference is made to evaluation studies on the model.
