Privatising Criminal Justice

"Almost all State-based criminal justice professionals in recent years have instinctively feared and disliked the ‘privatisation' that they were persistently being threatened with, and fought as best they could to keep their services public. Sometimes, the wider public themselves were indifferent to their struggles (as with probation), and others, more supportive (as with legal aid). What all the struggling agencies had in common was a shallow understanding of what they were up against, and a naive belief that merely empirical and ethical arguments could resist it. Hamerton and Hobbs’ fine book, the first comprehensive British treatment of the subject for more than a decade, offers a new way of conceptualising privatisation, maps the dramatic changes that have already occurred and indicates what may be to come. Not all privatisations go smoothly—recent attempts to upgrade electronic monitoring have been a foreseeable fiasco—but without a book like this to guide us, all attempts to salvage and sustain best practice in the new penal landscape will be futile."
Professor Mike Nellis, University of Strathclyde

"Hamerton and Hobbs’ Privatising Criminal Justice is an authoritative and timely discussion of the most disturbing commercialized intrusion into the criminal justice arena since Thatcher and Reagan introduced the idea in the 1980s. It is essential reading for anyone—politicians, the public, students and practitioners—interested in the role global business plays in the delivery of commercialized justice."
Emeritus Professor Bob Lilly, Northern Kentucky University

"At one point in time, not so very long ago, the idea of ‘private prisons’ or ‘private police’ was either something ‘that happened in the USA’ or in dystopian visions of ‘the future’. But today, that ‘future’ is here, the private justice sector is as familiar in the UK as in the USA, and the long history of commercial engagement in the criminal justice system needs re-visiting and explaining. This needs expert guides. Hamerton and Hobbs provide an exemplary account of comparative and contemporary influences and events that have shaped a complex story of operational crises, public finance austerity, privatisation and profiteering, and failure to sustain principles of democratic welfarism. Highly recommended for anyone wishing to get to grips with these issues and debates."
Emeritus Professor Nigel South, University of Essex