Keep up-to-date with drugs and crime

The latest research, policy, practice and opinion on our criminal justice and drug & alcohol treatment systems
Search

My latest blog posts

On Probation
Damning inspection of offender management in prisons

“This lack of progress is of particular concern as it casts doubt about the Prison Service’s capacity to implement the changes required under the Transforming Rehabilitation Strategy designed to reduce reoffending rates, especially for short-term prisoners.”

Commissioning
How well is NOMS managing our prisons?

The NAO chooses to highlight a key challenge in managing the prison estate in the future. Many of the cost savings are due to commissioning larger prisons – the Titan Prison planned for Wrexham will be Britain’s largest with about 2,000 prisoners). Smaller prisons tend to perform better and, although, there is no evidence base, many criminal justice commentators hold the view that it is easier to help prisoners address their problems and plan for successful release at smaller jails.

Policing
Police Governance – replacing Police and Crime Commissioners

There is a strong emphasis throughout the report on community engagement and neighbourhood policing and there is a specific recommendation to ensure that accountability goes down to the neighbourhood level by establishing “participatory budgeting units” to ensure greater local community involvement in allocating resources.

On Probation
What do we know about the new probation providers?

There are a mix of aspiring large private companies (15), probation mutuals (11), voluntary organisations (10), County and Borough Councils (3) and a further education college (1) – these add up to more than 30 since many organisations are in partnerships or Joint Ventures.

On Probation
1st stage successful Transforming Rehabilitation bidders announced

The Ministry of Justice today (19 December 2013) announced the names of the 30 successful organisations who have cleared the PQQ stage of the Transforming Rehabilitation competition for the new probation contracts. The main newsworthy topics are the withdrawal of G4S and Serco from the competition, there is no official comment on whether they were pushed or jumped themselves and the inclusion of 11 potential Probation Service Mutuals in the list.

On Probation
Justice Data Lab Christmas edition

However, the largest scheme which was assessed – the national analysis of all the NOMS CFO employment schemes with offenders who started their interventions in the community found that this intervention reduced reoffending by between 4 and 8 percentage points. The 19 individual regional schemes in this programme (which are run by different providers) were assessed in the previous month’s Lab Report and varied considerably.

On Probation
Transforming Rehabilitation under the microscope

The latest edition of the British Journal of Community Justice is a special issue dedicated to Transforming Rehabilitation. It is more than double its normal length and has been made available for free online. You can also order the print edition for just £5 (+£2 p&p).

Policing
Creating effective Police partnerships

It should be remembered that “Policing for a Better Britain” was commissioned by the Labour Party and it is, therefore, no surprise to see the issue of privatisation tackled head-on. The report is not against privatisation but recommends that outsourcing should only be considered by reference to five key principles:

On Probation
Alcohol Concern: Transforming Rehabilitation risks losing probation expertise

Eric sees the potential that TR brings to providing help to alcohol using prisoners, many of whom serve short sentences and relapse as soon as they leave the prison gates.
However, he has serious concerns that TR may not work in practice and that probation expertise at working with offenders with complex needs could be lost.

Digital Engagement
Police countdown to Christmas with #Badvent calendars

ottinghamshire Police – @nottspolice – went in a different direction entirely. Their online advent calendar replaces the daily chocolate with the picture of a “most wanted” local criminal. Originally termed the #Badvent Calendar, it was renamed the “Festive Crime Calendar”. It’s still a strong contender for my hashtag of the year award.

On Probation
What do we know about the new Probation Institute?

The partner organisations have produced a Prospectus for the Institute which sets out their initial thoughts on the purpose of the organisation, its stakeholders, scope and priorities and an implementation plan and timetable. This prospectus sets out six key objectives for the Institute: 1) Providing professional leadership, enhancing the professional status of the sector

Privacy Preference Center

Subscribe

Get every blog post by email for free