ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the interconnected histories of evaluative research on offender rehabilitation, criminal justice policy in England and Wales, and the recent history of community sentences there. It shows how evidence gradually became more important, how it has been used and misused, and how we are now in a new period of policymaking which is ideologically driven rather than evidence based. This history also informs suggestions about the most appropriate social science methodologies for evaluation research in this field.
