The privatisation debate within criminal justice appears to have taken a new turn over the past few months. The original focus of the debate has shifted, new objectives have been promoted and there has been a noticeable change of emphasis away from profit maximisation towards enhanced flexibility and efficiency. In the process, the debate has become more sophisticated and complex and is no longer trapped within a crude state-market. dichotomy. Roger Matthews of Middlesex Polytechnic Criminology Centre argues that there is nothing inherently negative about privatisation and suggests that it may offer vigorous new potential within the penal system.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
J Mullen, 'Corrections and the Private Sector" Prison Journal62(2), 1985.
2.
Deloitte, Haskins and Sells, A.Report to the Home Office on The Practicality of Private Sector Involvement in the Remand System, 1989.
3.
Napo, Drug Users and Custody , 1990
4.
E. Currie, Confronting Crime: An Americal Challenge, Pantheon, 1986.
5.
F. Cullen, 'The Privatization of Treatment: Prison Reform in the 1980s' Federal Probation50. 1986.
