ABSTRACT
Why is it important to find creative ways of working with black and minority ethnic offenders? There is, after all, little evidence that they themselves want specific approaches distinct from those that apply to all offenders (Calverley et al. 2004); and similarly minimal evidence that addressing the effects of racial victimisation among offenders has a noticeable impact on offending (Powis and Walmsley 2002). The answer to this question is as unsatisfactory as it is persuasive: the generic approach to work with minority ethnic offenders is also severely lacking in convincing evidence. It does not engage adequately with diversity within black and minority ethnic groups, or between them and white British offenders. It has also been argued that approaches that are not in line with cognitive behavioural orthodoxy have been prematurely dismissed without adequate research into their potential effectiveness (Durrance and Williams 2003).
