Working their way out of offending: an evaluation of two probation employment scheme

The link between unemployment and crime is well established, and criminal justice agencies deploy a range of interventions to try to enhance offenders' employment opportunities and thereby reduce re-offending. However, there is a general lack of information on the impact of probation employment schemes in this country. This report presents a 3-year evaluation of two innovative Education, Training and Employment (ETE) projects, based in Inner London and Surrey, which worked with offenders under probation supervision. It discusses the development of the schemes; their targets and outcomes; the views of probation officers, project staff and of fenders; the impact of New Deal; and the results of a one-year reconviction study. The findings are generally promising. The report details encouraging employment and training outcomes achieved by both schemes and describes positive feedback from those involved, whether as providers or clients. It also identifies factors that contributed to the success or otherwise of the schemes, providing constructive pointers for future policy and practice. While both schemes were developed before effective practice principles had been widely adopted in the Probation Service, their experiences offer a useful contribution to the development of “What Works” in this field.