ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to explore the impact of desistance theory and research on probation practice to date and to examine underdeveloped aspects of this important interface. We aim first to review the few empirical studies that have specifically focused on the role that probation may play in supporting desistance and also wider debates about the implications of desistance research for probation and social work practice. By seeking to explore and understand the processes through which people come to cease offending — with or without intervention by criminal justice agencies — desistance research potentially provides a wealth of knowledge for policy and practice, and directs those involved in criminal justice practice towards a series of issues that have been, until recently, somewhat neglected in the pursuit of ‘evidence-based’ practice. These issues include the significance of officer —offender relationships in the process of rehabilitation (Burnett and McNeill 2005), and the significance of the social contexts of offending and desistance (Farrall 2002; McCulloch 2005; McNeill and Whyte 2007). Though these are important issues, this chapter seeks to move beyond them by exploring other crucial but underdeveloped dialogues between desistance research and probation practice around questions of identity and diversity.
