Abstract
In 1974, Robert Martinson published the paper ‘’’What Works?’’: Questions and Answers about Prison Reform’ in which he reviewed findings from 231 studies of offender rehabilitation programmes that had been evaluated during the prior 30 years. Based on his analysis of what was the most extensive offender treatment database that existed at that time, he concluded that ‘with few and isolated exceptions, the rehabilitative efforts that have been reported so far have had no appreciable effect on recidivism’ (Martinson, 1974: 25). This spearheaded the now infamous ‘nothing works’ epoch, characterized by a period of uncertainty and disillusionment amongst practitioners. Since then, rehabilitative interventions have picked themselves up, dusted themselves off and re-established that of course some things do work, for some people, in some contexts. The collection ‘What Else Works?’ edited by Brayford, Cowe and Deering is testimony to the ongoing and often innovative and creative work currently being done with offenders.