The author interviewed 28 British criminal justice practitioners in senior positions across the criminal justice process. The interviews were conducted between November 1988 and February 1991. All but two of those interviewed were working in England and Wales. Six were from the prison system and the Crown Prosecution Service, and five were from the police and probation services. The remainder consisted of two justices' clerks, a senior official in the Home Office, a solicitor, a leading figure with the Magistrates' Association, and a recorder. The interviewees were not intended to be representative of senior criminal justice practitioners. They were selected by the author because they were well known to him or to others as persons who manifested liberal and humanitarian values in their work. The purpose of each interview was to generate a narrative that explored the origins, development, and effects of the subject's "working credo." The issues explored included formative influences, turning points, education and professional training, crises, and support structure. Questions were also asked about reform tactics, including problems of changing organizational structures and traditions. The intent of the author is to use the experiences, values, and attitudes of those interviewed to highlight the core principles of a "work credo" that manifests empathy for both offenders and victims, an optimism that constructive work can be done with offenders, and adherence to the rule of law in restricting the powers of the state. Such a work credo differs clearly from two other work credos common in criminal justice work. One such credo involves a powerful dislike and moral condemnation of offenders that justifies unrestricted pursuit of suspects and punitive and degrading treatment of offenders. A second common credo focuses on the performance of criminal justice tasks as smoothly and efficiently as possible, such that smooth management becomes more important than the moral mission of helping offenders to develop into responsible citizens. Chapter notes, a 158-item bibliography, and a subject index