Abstract
This chapter reviews the main options available to the sentencing court which do not entail immediate custody. It therefore deals with community orders as well as suspended prison sentences (see Chapter 7, section 7.5 for financial penalties). It discusses the tensions between imposing proportionate punishment and delivering rehabilitation programmes. It examines the policy aim of reducing reoffending through specifying in court orders requirements to control and rehabilitate the offender in the community, and discusses the theory and practice of rehabilitation that underpins these initiatives. However, because punishment and rehabilitation also take place in the community for those released from prison, this chapter examines supervision for prisoners released on licence. The chapter, therefore, covers the policy changes in relation to the work and remit of the Probation Service.
