At the center of the government's plans to introduce enhanced "punishment in the community" is the probation service. Serious consideration is being given to extending techniques developed in the juvenile sphere to the young adult offender age bracket, and the probation service is being made responsible for bringing about these changes. Behind the thrust of the government's punishment in the community is an overt threat to the social work basis of probation practice. Introducing overt punitive elements into orders which probation officers are charged with carrying out will in many cases fundamentally alter the nature of the relationship between the probation officer and the offender. Probation training is an important issue which will attract attention in the coming months, so too will wider government policies for change within the criminal justice system, such as the introduction of electronic monitoring and the use of private companies within the criminal justice sphere. 17 references.