This edition, guest edited by Dr Mary Corcoran marks the first anniversary of the launch of the competition to bid for contracts to deliver probation services under the banner of Transforming Rehabilitation.
Today, discussion about the market revolution in criminal justice has been rendered more contentious by successive phases of privatisation, outsourcing, and deregulation in the UK over three decades.
Proponents justify these as the painfully necessary application of commercial shock to reform moribund state services. Privatisation, of course, is one aspect of a broader cultural and political alignment of institutional and social behaviour with the laws of the market.
More pragmatically, the lure of market solutions has gained currency among centre-right and centre-left governments (with some marginal differences) in the UK and elsewhere in pursuit of the elusive alchemy of greater efficiency, cheaper costs and better services.
Despite the heat of the debate, the deployment of concepts of marketisation remains inconsistent and contested. The articles in this edition explore various aspects of this complex set of issues.
In this edition
Mary Corcoran introduces this issue of cjm
By Mary Corcoran
Kevin Albertson discusses the difficulty of aligning private incentives with the public good
By Kevin Albertson
Gary Craig argues that slavery still flourishes in contemporary, globalised consumer markets
By Gary Craig
Ed Cape highlights the conflict of interests arising from police involvement in private criminal prosecutions
By Ed Cape
Simon Bastow discusses the limits of marketisation in UK offender management
By Simon Bastow
Jenny Chambers reports on systemic problems arising from privatisation in criminal justice
By Jenny Chambers
Sarah Lamble explores why market logics curtail possibilities for genuine alternatives.
By Sarah Lamble
Daniel McCarthy makes sense of reductions in the size and scale of the youth justice system
By Daniel McCarthy
Jamie Grace highlights apparent early flaws in implementing a new policy move
By Jim Grace
Becky Clarke critiques the ‘simplistic’ measures used to define success
By Becky Clarke
Andrew Henley argues that those who have been punished should be free from future discrimination
By Andrew Henley
Chris Hignett reviews Beth E Richie’s powerful new book, Arrested Justice. Black women, violence and America’s prison nation
By Chris Hignett
