ABSTRACT
The probation project took place at the Differential Treatment Unit, an Inner London probation office which was especially set up as one of the experimental units for an earlier probation experiment. A pilot study was begun in February 1976 in which the probation officers tried to apply the method to new referrals; during this phase the recording instruments to be used were adapted to the probation setting. The measure of problem reduction was related to another outcome measure which is the degree to which, in the opinion of the probation officer and the client, the tasks undertaken to alleviate a specific problem or problems had been achieved. The chapter describes the administrative organisation of the project, how all the referrals coming in for enquiry reports from the courts were assessed, and how the sample of 100 short-term probation orders was arrived at.
