‘The customer is always right’? Consumerism and the probation service

The probation service of England and Wales has faced ongoing change to its structures and challenge to its theory and value base throughout its history. Recent years have seen an acceleration in the scope of this change with sizable budget cuts alongside the threat of competition and subsequent privitisation of probation services. This article explores whether the more fundamental but subtle challenge to practice may yet come not from explicit governmental policy, but the underlying consumerist social structures at play that operate not only in governance, but also in the mindset of the public, practitioners and probationers alike.

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Surviving the revolution? The voluntary sector under Transforming Rehabilitation in England and Wales

Marketisation and Privatisation in Criminal Justice ◽

10.1332/policypress/9781447345701.003.0015 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 221-238

Author(s):

Kevin Wong ◽

Rob Macmillan

Keyword(s):

Turning Point ◽

Voluntary Sector ◽

England And Wales ◽

The Public ◽

The Future ◽

Probation Service ◽

Open Question ◽

The Revolution

Regarded by commentators as an emollient to soothe critics of the part privatisation of the public probation service, the Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) reforms in England and Wales promised an enlarged role for the voluntary sector in the resettlement and rehabilitation of offenders. Whether such changes mark a decisive turning point or in the fullness of time represent just another twist in the long and messy narrative of voluntary sector provision of offender services remains an open question. This chapter will examine the role and fortunes of the sector during the tumultuous period between 2014 and 2019 and identify what lessons can be learnt for the future.

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The probation service in England and Wales: A decade of radical change or more of the same?

European Journal of Probation ◽

10.1177/2066220320947243 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 129-146

Author(s):

Matt Tidmarsh

Keyword(s):

Radical Change ◽

State Intervention ◽

England And Wales ◽

The Public ◽

Performance Targets ◽

Conservative Government ◽

General Decline ◽

Medium Risk ◽

Probation Service ◽

Privately Owned

This article reviews developments in probation in England and Wales since 2010, a decade in which services were exposed to the logic of competition and profit. In 2014, the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition government’s Transforming Rehabilitation ( TR) reforms promised an end to a top-down, target-centric culture of state intervention by outsourcing services for low-to-medium risk offenders to 21 privately-owned Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs). And yet, just four years after the reforms were implemented, the Conservative government announced that CRCs’ contracts would be terminated, with all offender management services returned to the public sector. With a focus on the private sector, the article argues that radical change to the probation service’s structure has entrenched a focus on centrally-administered performance targets and audit. In other words, contrary to the decentralising rhetoric at the core of TR, the decade has in many ways produced more of the same managerialism that the reforms were presented as a means to displace. The result has been a general decline in the quality of probation services.

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Probation migration(s): Examining occupational culture in a turbulent field

Criminology & Criminal Justice ◽

10.1177/1748895816656905 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 192-208 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Lol Burke ◽

Matthew Millings ◽

Gwen Robinson

Keyword(s):

Private Sector ◽

Ethnographic Study ◽

Private Ownership ◽

Occupational Culture ◽

England And Wales ◽

The Public ◽

Turbulent Field ◽

Community Rehabilitation ◽

Probation Service ◽

The Impact

In June 2014 approximately 54 per cent of the total probation service workforce in England and Wales were transferred to the newly created Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) as part of the government’s plans to establish a market for offender management services. This marked the beginning of one of the largest and most significant migrations of criminal justice staff from the public to the private sector in England and Wales. This article presents findings from an ethnographic study of the formation of one of these CRCs through to the period immediately following the transfer into private ownership. The authors discuss the key features of this migration which are identified as ‘splitting and fracturing’, ‘adapting and forming’ and ‘exiting or accommodation’. It is contended that this development not only has significant implications for the future of probation services but also provides a unique example of the impact on an occupational culture of migration from the public to the private sector.

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Measuring academic research performance through audit at the expense of trust: Exploring the 21st Century University

BORDER CROSSING ◽

10.33182/bc.v1i1.521 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 49-59 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Chris Holligan ◽

Ibrahim Sirkeci

Keyword(s):

Research Performance ◽

Academic Research ◽

Reputation Management ◽

Intellectual Life ◽

Budget Cuts ◽

University Culture ◽

The Public ◽

Audit Culture ◽

Management Quality ◽

Fiscal Austerity

British universities are experiencing a climate of fiscal austerity including severe budget cuts coupled with intensifying competition for markets have seen the emergence of audit culture which afflicts the public sector in general. This entails the risk to the integrity of university culture disappearing. This paper seeks to explore the interconnections between developing trends in universities which cause processes likely to undermine the objectivity and independence of research. We question that universities’ alignment with the capitalist business sector and the dominant market economy culture. Despite arguably positive aspects, there is a danger that universities may be dominated by hegemonic sectional interest rather than narratives of openness and democratically oriented critique. We also argue that audit culture embedded in reputation management, quality control and ranking hierarchies may necessarily promote deception while diminishing a collegiate culture of trust and pursuit of truth which is replaced by destructive impersonal accountability procedures. Such transitions inevitably contain insidious implications for the nature of the academy and undermine the values of academic-intellectual life.

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The Role of State and Local Budget Cuts in the Run-Up of For-Profit Attendance and Student Borrowing: Spillovers between the Public and For-Profit Sectors

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.2662217 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Sarena Goodman ◽

Alice Henriques

Keyword(s):

Budget Cuts ◽

The Public ◽

For Profit ◽

State And Local ◽

Local Budget ◽

Run Up

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Some Practical Implications for Policy and Practice

10.1093/oso/9780198718895.003.0008 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Ralph Henham

Keyword(s):

Public Opinion ◽

Working Relationship ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Community Based ◽

England And Wales ◽

National Regulation ◽

Probation Service ◽

Practical Implications

This chapter explains the practical consequences of what has been proposed. It begins by evaluating current models and suggested approaches for incorporating public opinion into sentencing, explaining how the proposed changes would differ. It then sets out some practical reforms to sentencing in England and Wales, including greater coordination between the national regulation of sentencing discretion through the Sentencing Council and regional or community-based sentencing practices. Regional branches of the Sentencing Council are also advocated. In addition to further practical reforms, a greater role for the Sentencing Council in the ethical surveillance of sentencing, the development of new procedural rules, and enhanced training for judges and magistrates are proposed. Finally, a closer working relationship between the Sentencing Council, the courts, the CPS, defence lawyers, and the Probation Service is advocated to develop guidance clarifying their role within the new sentencing framework.

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Triage Management, Survival, and the Law in the Age of Ebola

Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness ◽

10.1017/dmp.2014.117 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 38-43 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Frederick M Burkle ◽

Christopher M Burkle

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

International Health ◽

Epidemiological Data ◽

Population Based ◽

World Health ◽

Economic Stability ◽

Budget Cuts ◽

The Public ◽

Level 3 ◽

Health Organization

AbstractLiberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea lack the public health infrastructure, economic stability, and overall governance to stem the spread of Ebola. Even with robust outside assistance, the epidemiological data have not improved. Vital resource management is haphazard and left to the discretion of individual Ebola treatment units. Only recently has the International Health Regulations (IHR) and World Health Organization (WHO) declared Ebola a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, making this crisis their fifth ongoing level 3 emergency. In particular, the WHO has been severely compromised by post-2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) staffing, budget cuts, a weakened IHR treaty, and no unambiguous legal mandate. Population-based triage management under a central authority is indicated to control the transmission and ensure fair and decisive resource allocation across all triage categories. The shared responsibilities critical to global health solutions must be realized and the rightful attention, sustained resources, and properly placed legal authority be assured within the WHO, the IHR, and the vulnerable nations. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2014;0:1-6)

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