Privatisation in Criminal Justice: Key issues and debates

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.

Christopher Hamerton is currently Deputy Director of the Institute of Criminal Justice Research in the School of Economic, Social and Political Sciences at the University of Southampton, UK.

Sue Hobbs is Adjunct Fellow with the School of Social Sciences and Psychology at Western Sydney University, Australia. She has wide practice experience in social and criminal justice.