Pamela Ugwudike is a Professor in Criminology at the University of Southampton. Her research projects have focused on criminal justice practice and they have been funded by the Welsh Government, the Youth Justice Board, the National Probation Service, and the Prison Advice and Care Trust.Peter Raynor is a former probation officer and qualified social worker, now emeritus research professor in criminology and criminal justice at Swansea University, where he has worked since 1975.Jill Annison is associate professor in criminal justice studies at Plymouth University. Her career as a practitioner, in teaching and as a researcher, has focused on women offenders.

"I’m often asked what practitioners can do to encourage and support desistance from crime. Now I know exactly what to tell them: read this book! This remarkable collection reviews the evidence base for everything from emotional work in probation to the recruitment of ex-offender engagement workers. It is an essential resource for understanding effective rehabilitation." Shadd Maruna, Professor of Criminology, University Manchester

• Part 1: Contextualizing practice: Key theoretical, organisational and policy developments;Chapter 1: Introduction – Effective practice skills: new directions in research ~ Pamela Ugwudike, Peter Raynor, and Jill Annison;Chapter 2: The effective practice of staff development in England and Wales: learning from history and contemporary research ~ Maurice Vanstone; Chapter 3: The search for impact in British probation: from programmes to skills and implementation ~ Peter Raynor;Chapter 4: Is constructive practice still possible in a competitive environment? Findings from a case study of a community rehabilitation company in England and Wales ~ Lol Burke, Matthew Millings and Gwen Robinson;Chapter 5: Implementation uptake: organisational factors affecting evidence-based reform in community corrections in the United States ~ Danielle S. Rudes, Faye S. Taxman, Kimberly Kras, Kimberly S. Meyer & Shannon Magnuson;Part 2: International research on evidence‑based skills;Chapter 6: The Risk-Need-Responsivity model: evidence diversity and integrative theory ~ Martine Herzog-Evans;Chapter 7: Professional practices and skills in first interviews: a comparative perspective on probation practice in Spain and Belgium ~ Ester Blay and Johan Boxstaens;Chapter 8: Desistance-related skills in Romanian probation contexts ~ Ioan Durnescu;Chapter 9: From evidence-informed to evidence-based: the Strategic Training Initiative in Community Supervision ~ James Bonta, Guy Bourgon and Tanya Rugge;Chapter 10: Promoting quality in probation supervision and policy transfer: evaluating the SEED programme in Romania and England ~ Angela Sorsby, Joanna Shapland and Ioan Durnescu;Chapter 11: Supervision face-to-face contacts: the emergence of an intervention ~ Heather Toronjo and Faye S. Taxman;Chapter 12: Understanding emotions as effective practice in English probation: the performance of emotional labour in building relationships ~ Andrew Fowler, Jake Phillips and Chalen Westaby;Chapter 13: Staff supervision in youth justice and its relationship to skill development: findings from Australia ~ Charlene Pereira and Chris Trotter;Part 3: Evidence-based practice with diverse groups;Chapter 14: Evidence-based skills in Welsh youth justice settings ~ Pamela Ugwudike and Gemma Morgan;Chapter 15: The impact of training and coaching on the development of practice skills in youth justice: findings from Australia ~ Chris Trotter;Chapter 16: Can the recruitment of ex-offenders enhance offender engagement? An assessment of the London Probation Trust’s engagement worker role ~ Nigel Hosking and John Rico;Chapter 17: Collaborative family work in youth justice ~ Chris Trotter;Chapter 18: Resisting effective approaches for BAME offenders in England and Wales: the triumph of inertia ~ Patrick Williams and Pauline Durrance;Chapter 19: The ambiguity of therapeutic justice and women offenders in England and Wales ~ Jill Annison, Tim Auburn, Daniel Gilling and Gisella Hanley Santos;Chapter 20: Conclusion ~ Pamela Ugwudike, Jill Annison and Peter Raynor.