Based on a work of the same title by Anthony Osler which was published in 1995, this rewritten edition offers a non-technical account of the probation service, its history, and its modern-day role. As well as an overview of work with offenders, it includes the role of the Court Welfare Service in family matters. The author, who has 30 years' experience in the probation service, also wrote and "Paying Twenty Years of Community Service and " and and "Tackling the The Electronic Monitoring of Offenders and ".