Rehabilitation and Probation in England and Wales, 1876-1962

About this book

Rehabilitation and Probation in England and Wales, 1876-1962 draws on a wide range of archival material to describe the arrival of a modern probation service. Focusing on the first half of the twentieth century, it describes the debates, conflicts, and compromises that resulted in the creation of a state-sponsored, centrally controlled, professional, secular, social work and psychological-based agency. Following a chronological structure, Ray Gard explores the arrival of the so-called period of 'penal optimism', showing how rehabilitation arrived in the courts of England and Wales. The book uses archive and original material to give voice to those devising and implementing policy, revealing an uneven path to a modern probation system.