Description
Book SynopsisThe Government has embarked on a programme of radical reform for the probation and prison services with the setting up of a National Offender Management Service (NOMS). The aim is to make the two services work more effectively together, and to promote private sector involvement in 'corrections' work. This groundbreaking volume takes a critical look at the different aspects of the NOMS proposals, at a time when the Government is still working out the detail of its reforms. No other academic publication has scrutinised the NOMS proposals so closely. Through six contributions from leading experts on probation and criminal justice the report identifies the risks attached to NOMS; assesses the prospects of success; provides ideas for reshaping government plans and presents an authoritative critique of a set proposals that could go badly wrong. The report will be crucial reading for politicians, civil servants and criminal justice managers. Senior probation and prison staff will find it of particular value.
Trade Review" ... this book deserves to be read by anyone interested in the interactions of politics, public sector management theory and the penal system; there are glimmers of hope, but in the main it shows why NOMS has been nicknamed, after the London base of the Home Office, as 'Nightmare on Marhsma Street.'" Martin Wright
"For students and academics who really want to understand the issues, ideology and implications underpinning NOMS, this book is a carefully constructed contribution from those best placed to comment: heavyweight academics and practitioners with years of correctional experience." Prison Service Journal
"The Authors provide an intelligent discussion of a move towards a national offender management system in Great Britain.... a necessary resource for anyone interested in national offender management systems ... a valuable addition to the library....." International Criminal Justice Review
Table of ContentsIntroduction; NOMS and its relationship to crime reduction, public confidence and the new sentencing context ~ John W Raine; End-to-end or end in tears?: Prospects for the effectiveness of the National Offender Management Model ~ Peter Raynor and Mike Maguire; Keeping the lid on the prison population: will it work? ~ Carol Hedderman; NOMS, contestability and the process of technocorrectional innovation ~ Mike Nellis; Lessons from prison privatisation for probation ~ Alison Liebling; A modern service, fit for purpose? ~ David Faulkner; Endnote ~ Rob Allen and Mike Hough.
