This fully revised and expanded edition provides an authoritative and original account of the history of probation. A steadfast and invaluable reference tool, this book offers new ways of reading probation history and presents an original context for thinking about current policy and practice.

Based in part upon original documents and interviews with retired and serving officers, this second edition includes a substantially revised introduction and conclusion, minor revisions to original chapters, and two new chapters - Political pathways to privatised practice and beyond, and Probation practice in times of uncertainty. This predominantly UK-focussed study also provides a comparative perspective by exploring the history of probation in the USA and acknowledges the wider international story, whilst continuing to be the only history of probation practice that does justice to the mixture of influences on early probation services.

This important volume will be of particular interest to criminologists, academics and students of criminal justice, social policy, social history and social work, and those with lived experience of probation services.