Reoffending: A Practitioner's Guide to Working with Offenders and Offending Behaviour in the Criminal Justice System Jonathan Hussey

Yes, this one is mine too. I promise this is not going to become a pattern. Well, actually it might, but bear with me.

This was my first book, and I am still proud of it.

Reoffending is a practical guide aimed at people beginning their careers in the Probation Service and the Youth Offending Service. It walks through how offenders enter the criminal justice system, the working relationship between practitioner and offender, and the specifics of working with substance misuse, domestic abuse, violent offenders, sex offenders, and people with emotional and mental health needs. Alongside that, it includes exercises, case studies, and tips drawn from daily practice. The kind of thing nobody tells you in training but everyone learns the hard way on the job.

I wrote it because when I started out there was nothing that bridged the gap between the theory on the training course and the reality of sitting across from someone who had done something terrible and trying to work out what to actually say next. That gap still exists, and this book was my attempt to narrow it. From the feedback I have had since, both from newly qualified officers and from students coming into the field, it does seem to do the job it was written to do.

What I think works best is the practical grounding. The exercises and case studies are based on real situations rather than tidy hypotheticals, and the tone tries to respect the reader as someone about to do serious work rather than someone who needs to be talked down to. That was deliberate. I remember exactly what it felt like to be the new officer in the room, and I wanted the book to be a steady hand on the shoulder rather than another textbook.

If I were writing it today I would probably reach for slightly different examples in places, simply because the work and the system have moved on since then. But the core of it has held up, and that is what I am most pleased about.

If you are new to the field, read Imperfect first for the honest account of what the work actually feels like, then come to this one for the practical grounding in how I approached the role. Together they cover the ground I wish someone had covered for me.

A book I am genuinely glad I wrote, and one I still stand behind.

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