Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book considers how the term ‘community justice’ has been understood internationally, how it can be applied to an Australian context. It covers the context of working with adults who have committed offences in Australia, including legislation, policy and some of the interventions available. The book reviews some of the theories of offending and evidence-based practice used to explain offending behaviour, with a focus on those theories that are of most use in direct practice those associated both with the effective practice discourse and the response to it. The Australian social work literature pays limited attention to criminal justice the criminology literature rarely focuses on practice concerns, so this book is an attempt to fill that gap. Community justice has a contested sometimes pejorative meaning in both Northern Ireland and South Africa, often being used euphemistically to refer to vigilantism or paramilitary beatings.