Risk, responsivity and diversity, the key concepts covered in this book, can help practitioners from a variety of contexts whose task it is to contribute to the reduction of offending behaviour. The hope is that such a reduction will be in the best interests of victims, of society and of the offenders themselves. In fact, this simple idea contains within it layers of complexity, in considering how to achieve this end, while balancing sometimes competing demands and responsibilities.

In a discussion of the goals of rehabilitation for mentally disordered offenders, Blackburn (2004) differentiates between reintegration, where the service provider is as much the agent of the offender as of society, and a narrower interpretation, in which the goals of intervention are to prevent offending and to protect the public. In this interpretation offender-centred goals are simply a means to those ends. Ward and Brown (2004: 244) in explaining the ‘good lives model’ suggest that “management of risk is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the rehabilitation of offenders” and go on to state the importance of equipping them “with the tools to live more fulfilling lives”. Arguably, those working with offenders have to make risk management and rehabilitation work together. Practitioners can be helped to do this by focusing on risk and responsivity and drawing on the knowledge base and skills that support these terms.

Risk focuses attention on public protection and the reduction of offending. It also seems reasonable to assume, however, that avoiding offending and consequent involvement with the criminal justice system will, of itself, be of benefit to many offenders. Responsivity draws attention to how interventions are delivered, in order to increase their effectiveness (Andrews, 2001). The aim of a responsive service is to engage the offender in working towards change and this necessitates a focus on them as an individual. There is much appeal in Blackburn's (2004: 302) premise, therefore, that the goals of intervention should (where possible) be “offender focused as well as offence focused”, providing this does not detract from protection of the public.

Both an accurate assessment of risk and a proper consideration of responsivity require practitioners to work with the detail of an individual offender's life. This requirement leads to the final focus of this book, that of diversity.