Privatising Criminal Justice

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, offender services and legal defense. This has seen unprecedented growth in the past quarter of a century, and a veritable explosion under the tenure of the Coalition government in the United Kingdom.

This book explores the social, cultural, and political context of privatization in the criminal justice sector. Key areas of domestic and global concern are highlighted and illustrated 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 and 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.