ABSTRACT

Over the past few years, opposition to the privatisation in public services in the United Kingdom and elsewhere has grown, especially in areas related to criminal justice. Privatisation has existed within the British criminal justice system at least since the early 1990s, but the privatisation of the Probation Service in 2014 was a significant landmark in this process and signalled a larger programme of privatisation to come.

Criminal Justice and Privatisation works to examine the impact of privatisation on the criminal justice system, and to explore the potential effects of privatising other areas including the police and the security industry. By including chapters from practitioners and academics alike, the book offers an expansive overview of the criminal justice system, as well as observations of the effect of privatisation at ground level. By also exploring the way the private companies are paid, how they operate and what private companies do, this book offers an insight into and the future of privatisation within the public sector.

Written in a clear and direct style this book will appeal to students and scholars in criminology, sociology, cultural studies, social theory and those interested in learning about the effects of privatisation.

chapter 2|14 pages

Probation for Profit

Neoliberalism, magical thinking and evidence refusal

chapter 5|20 pages

The Gift Relationship

What we lose when rehabilitation is privatised

chapter 6|17 pages

Through the Gate

chapter 8|13 pages

Privatisation of Policing

Objective reform, ideological revolution or subjective revenge and retribution?

chapter 11|16 pages

Contracts, Compliance, Care and Control

The experience of privatisation in one probation trust

chapter 12|13 pages

Does it Work? Does it Pay?