ABSTRACT
An increasing body of research suggests that some interventions with offenders can reduce reoffending. While little of this research has focused on the impact of routine supervision of offenders on probation, parole, or other community-based orders, a few studies have found that when supervisors make use of certain skills, those under their supervision offend less often. This chapter outlines the effective practice skills identified in earlier research. It then reports on a study which involved the direct observation of 117 worker/client interviews conducted by juvenile justice workers and counsellors with a view to examining the extent to which the effective practice skills were used. It found like the earlier studies generally done with adults, that when workers used particular practice skills the young people under their supervision had low reoffending rates. It also found that workers given a counselling role made more use of the effective practice skills than other workers.
