Since 1997 the probation service, an integral component of criminal justice for over 100 years, has been subject to a politically-driven process of modernisation and cultural transformation. This innovative book explores this probation modernisation by using social theories associated with Durkheim, Weber, Marx and Foucault. The book combines this theoretical analysis with empirical research from interviews, which highlights challenges to, as well as support of, the politics of modernisation. This research is unique in providing insights into what representatives of other organisations think about probation - from the outside looking in.This up-to-date text will be essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students of probation, criminology, criminal and social justice and allied disciplines.

Written by an established author in the field, this book explores the politics of modernisation and transformation of probation in the criminal justice system. It is unique in drawing upon innovative social theories and moral perspectives to analyse changes in the probation service by including data from quantitative and qualitative empirical research. This highlights the challenges to, but also support of, the platform of modernisation that culminated in the transformative Rehabilitation Revolution. Providing critical tools for the reader to use in their own work and studies, it makes a timely contribution to criminal justice and probation theory and uniquely provides insights into what representatives of other organisations think about probation – from the outside looking in.

This book explores probation staff understandings of professionalism in the aftermath of the Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) reforms to services in England and Wales. Drawing on the sociology of the professions, this book offers an original and timely contribution to the criminal justice literature, examining the ways in which professionalism in probation has been reshaped and renegotiated in response to the market logic that has dominated public services in recent decades. The case of the TR reforms offers a useful platform for exploring broader shifts in understandings of professionalism. This book demonstrates the ways in which professionalism in probation can be understood as a discourse through which professionals are expected to be receptive to the demands of multiple stakeholders – offenders, taxpayers, the state, and, additionally, the market. It situates TR in a marketising continuum, the logical endpoint of a period of reform that has sought to discipline staff and reshape their understandings of professionalism. Written in a clear and direct style, this book is essential reading for researchers engaged in probation, rehabilitation, criminal justice, and organizational and professional studies.

Privatisation was introduced into the probation service on the 1st June 2014 whereby work with medium and low risk offenders went to a number of private and voluntary bodies, work with high risk offenders remained with the State. The National Probation Service (NPS) covered State work whilst the 35 existing Probation Trusts were replaced by 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs). Staff were allocated to either side of the divide but all remained as probation officers. The effect was that the existing probation service lost control of all but 30,000 of the most high risk cases, with the other 220,000 low to medium risk offenders being farmed out to private firms. Privatisation was justified as the only available way of achieving important policy objectives of extending post release supervision to offenders on short sentences, a group who are the most prolific offenders with high reconviction rates yet who receive no statutory support. This book describes the process by which the probation service became privatised, assessing its impact on the probation service itself, and on the criminal justice system generally. It considers both the justifications for privatisation, as well as the criticisms of it, and asks to what extent the probation service can survive such changes, and what future it has as a service dedicated to the welfare of offenders. It demonstrates how the privatisation of probation can be seen as a trend away from traditional public service in criminal justice towards an emphasis on efficiency and cost effectiveness. This book is essential reading for criminology students engaged with criminal justice, social policy, probation, punishment and working with offenders. It will also be key reading for practitioners and policy makers in jurisdictions where there is an interest in extending their own privatisation practice.

This book is a collection of essays by a unique group of authors about the political destruction of the probation service in England and Wales. All of them are probation officers turned academics, with a collective scholarly output that is both prodigious and distinguished. They address the history of probation, its underlying values and working methods, and the way it has been systematically dismantled by successive political administrations. The book offers essential reading for those interested in broadening their understanding of the probation service and its vital role in rehabilitation. In addition it makes a compelling case for the reinstatement of an evidence-based probation service as the primary criminal justice agency concerned with helping people who come before the courts to become contributing citizens. A lively and engrossing read, it is destined to be invaluable to policy makers, social science theorists and commentators, as well as scholars of criminology and the justice system, and all those who work in it.

The relationship between offender and criminal justice practitioner has shifted throughout rehabilitative history, whether situated within psychological interventions, prison or probation. This relationship has evolved and adapted over time, but interpersonal processes remain central to offender work. However, little work has critically focused upon the challenging task of developing and sustaining positive relationships with offenders. This book addresses this gap, providing an in-depth exploration of the processes which underpin correctional relationships within probation. Through an innovative methodology, it examines how practitioners can enhance their practice by understanding how relationships form, deepen and end effectively. For the first time, it draws on the experiences of offenders and practitioners to uncover the darker side to relationships, identifying how they can rupture and break down. From this exploration, it presents alternative ways in which relationships can be repaired and safeguarded within correctional practice. In essence, this book assists practitioners in becoming successful supporters of change. In an increasingly competitive and politicised climate, this book outlines how political and organisational tensions can impact upon the flow of relationships across the criminal justice system. Uniquely, this book examines how these tensions can be overcome to produce transformative changes. Lewis suggests that therapeutic correctional relationships can thrive within a number of correctional settings and presents the core principles of relational practice and dynamic model of therapeutic correctional relationships to assist in achieving quality and sustainable practice. This book will appeal to criminological and psychological scholars as well as students studying probation and prison practice, offender rehabilitation and desistance.

Privatising Criminal Justice explores the social, cultural and political context of privatisation in the criminal justice sector. In recent years, the criminal justice sector has made various strategic partnerships with the private sector, exemplified by initiatives within the police, the prison system and offender services. This has seen unprecedented growth in the past 30 years and a veritable explosion under the tenure of the coalition government in the UK. This book highlights key areas of domestic and global concern and illustrates, with detailed case studies of important developments. It connects the study of criminology and criminal justice to the wider study of public policy, government institutions and political decision making. In doing so, Privatising Criminal Justice provides a theoretical and practical framework for evaluating collaborative public and private-sector response to social problems at the beginning of the twenty-first century. An accessible and compelling read, this book will appeal to students and scholars of criminology, criminal justice, sociology and politics and all those interested in how privatisation has shaped the contemporary criminal justice system.