Book Review: Offender Rehabilitation in Practice: Implementing and Evaluating Effective Programs
| Author | Mike Head |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455050104800421 |
| Published date | 01 December 2001 |
| Date | 01 December 2001 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
307
Offender Rehabilitation in Practice:
Implementing and Evaluating
Effective Programs
Gary A. Bernfield, David Farrington
and Alan W. Leschied (eds)
Wiley Series in Forensic Clinical
Psychology, 2001; pp295;
£29.95, pbk ISBN 0471 720267
Programme implementation is in full
swing. Every new research publication
attracts scrutiny. It is as if everyone is
looking for instant evidence to support a
personal viewpoint. It has become
something of a sport. Anyone looking here
for quick answers will be disappointed.
Yet isn’t this the point? Programme
research can take years and programme
development is a slow process.
Implementation of evidence-based
practice is similarly taking a long time.
Why has Probation been in such a state of
denial about ‘What Works’? Staff room
arguments of the “Where’s the evidence?”
type remain commonplace. Worse, the
cultural resistance can still have a
powerful effect upon take up. The current
frenzy to get programmes in place, with
seemingly improbable targets and
financial penalties if we fail, has to be
seen against this background. For those
who have designed the programmes,
those who have undertaken the research,
and for those who are managing
implementation these must be amongst the
most frustrating of times!
How timely then to publish this quite
excellent reference volume. The editors
have sought to “reconcile the perspectives
of researchers and practitioners and
thereby narrow the gap between what we
desire from our rehabilitation programmes
and what we actually deliver”. This has to
be regarded as being a publication which
is relevant for both researchers and
practitioners. It is a report of the
experience worldwide of effective
implementation of offender rehabilitation
programmes that work. The editors argue
that this utilisation and extension of
knowledge, the “technology transfer”, is
the next level of systemic intervention in
criminal justice. Who would take issue?
In such a comprehensive volume we
are likely to look for the information that
coincides with our pre-occupations.
Senior managers hopefully will find
themselves glued to the whole picture.
There are some powerful messages
emerging from research concerning for
instance the lack of any real information
about the true costs of successful
implementation which obtain desired
outcomes. Similarly there are strong
messages about the whole process of
implementation. For those of us working
in London it might be of relief if not the
cause of irritation to know that for
programmes to be successful, they should
only be initiated during the period when
an organisation is free of any major
problems and conflicts.
Successful implementation of What
Works has needed research. Making this
publication available now for every
manager and every probation unit would
seem one way to take another step
forward.
Mike Head
Programme Manager of Sex Offender
and Domestic Violence Projects,
London
Book Reviews-p301-309 22/11/01 9:16 am Page 7
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