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Effective Probation in England and Wales? The Rise and Fall of Evidence

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Probation and Politics

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Abstract

The capacity of criminological research to provide evidence about the outcomes of offender management and interventions has increased beyond recognition since the 1970s, moving from ‘nothing works’ to an understanding of what practices are effective in programmes and in individual supervision. At the same time the capacity of research to influence major decisions has followed a different trajectory, peaking in 1999–2003 and declining since. The emerging pattern is that the higher the political profile of a policy, the smaller the role of research in it, and the larger the roles of ideology and political presentation. The privatisation of probation without any evidence at all is a recent example. This chapter provides a personal account of how one ex-probation academic has experienced the rise and fall of evidence.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminology, Swansea University, Swansea, Wales, UK

    Peter Raynor

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  1. Peter Raynor
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Correspondence to Peter Raynor .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Law , Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom

    Maurice Vanstone

  2. Bristol, United Kingdom

    Philip Priestley

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Raynor, P. (2016). Effective Probation in England and Wales? The Rise and Fall of Evidence. In: Vanstone, M., Priestley, P. (eds) Probation and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59557-7_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59557-7_13

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-59556-0

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