Publication

cjm 97: Criminal justice marketisation

Monday, 1 September 2014

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