Book excerpt: The criminal justice system has been in a state of flux in recent decades, accompanied by growing levels of insecurity and intolerance of crime and offenders among the general population. Along with government policy and practice, these developments are seen as contributing to an increasingly punitive system that imprisons more than ever before and seeks to punish and manage offenders in the community, rather than to attempt their rehabilitation. For these reasons, along with a loss of faith in rehabilitation, the probation service is now described by many as having become a law enforcement agency, charged by government with the assessment and management of risk, the protection of the public and the management and punishment of offenders, rather than their transformation into pro-social citizens. This book explores the extent to which practitioners within the National Probation Service for England and Wales and the National Offender Management Service ascribe to the values, attitudes and beliefs associated with these macro and mezzo level changes and how much their practice has changed accordingly. By viewing examples of 'real' practice through the lens of the modernisation of public services, managerialism and theories of organisation change, the book considers how 'real' practice is likely to emerge as something unpredictable and perhaps different from the intentions of both government/management and practitioners.