The dismantling of probation: Who will profit?

Abstract

After 105 years of world-class rehabilitative intervention, the probation service in England and Wales is about to be effectively dismantled. The Ministry of Justice's 2013 consultation document, 'Transforming Rehabilitation', outlined plans to allow private companies and charities to manage a range of services, including community supervision. Probation is set to be stripped of its core responsibilities, with the exception of public protection work with high risk offenders and the provision of information to the courts. There is little doubt that what will remain will be a qualitatively different service. Regardless of the rhetoric accompanying the ‘rehabilitation revolution’, the reality may be that the privatisation of probation is about the deprioritisation of rehabilitation and penal-welfare intervention.