Privatising criminal justice: a step too far?

Abstract

Prisons have been in the vanguard of the shift towards privatisation in the justice arena in the UK, which currently has the most privatised prison system in Europe. In an era of acute fiscal tightening, private incarceration's capacity to grow shareholder profits while simultaneously saving taxpayers money is presented as attractive. Competition for the running of criminal and community justice services - prisons, policing and probation - reflects the inexorable process of ideologically driven marketisation. A relentless process of transforming our criminal justice system into a competitive market place in which the attainment of financial return, rather than social justice, is the primary driver is underway.