Managing persistent and serious offenders in the community : intensive community programmes in theory and practice

Over the last few years intensive community programmes for both young and adult offenders, already firmly established in the United States, have become an important component of penal policy in the UK and elsewhere.

While expectations of these programmes are high, evidence regarding their effectiveness is mixed, and a number of critical concerns remain.

This book critiques the development of intensive community programmes for both young and adult offenders in a number of different jurisdictions, examining their multi-faceted theoretical foundations and the strong political impetus behind their expansion.

It includes a review of the evidence-base and a detailed study from the national evaluation of the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP) - the most robust multi-modal community programme currently available for young offenders in England and Wales.

The findings from this case study provide a valuable insight into the development and delivery of an intensive community intervention and its ability to tackle the needs and offending behaviours of a high-risk target group, whilst attempting to limit custodial sentencing. The authors set out the emerging lessons for future penal policy, before addressing some of the unresolved wider theoretical concerns and the longer-term potential of intensive community programmes.