Research & reports
| DOI | 10.1177/0264550516666745a |
| Date | 01 September 2016 |
| Published date | 01 September 2016 |
| Author | Steve Collett |
| Subject Matter | Research & reports |
The report concludes that the prosecution of serious youth violence through the
gang construct is deeply flawed. The processes of gang identification lack trans-
parency and accountability. Gang discourses mean JE is disproportionately applied
to BAME people. There is no evidence that the perpetration of serious youth violence
is aligned to ‘race’ in the ways that current responses imagine. Therefore strategies
designed to reduce levels of youth violence that focus on the gang are likely to be
ineffective. This report is essential reading for practitioners supervising young
adults. It challenges practitioners to think critically about how the gang label is
applied and its implications.
Dangerous Associations: Joint Enterprise, Gangs and Racism [An analysis of the
processes of criminalisation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) individuals]
by Patrick Williams and Becky Clarke (January 2016) is published by Centre for
Crime and Justice Studies and available to download at: https://
www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/
Madeline Petrillo
University of Portsmouth
National Audit Office Review of Transforming
Rehabilitation
Published at the end of May 2016, this report from the National Audit Office (NAO)
falls between the publication of the 4th and 5th reports of her Majesty’s Inspectorate
of Probation (HMIP), which are also considering the implementation of Transform-
ing Rehabilitation (TR). The latter are focused on the arrangement for offender
supervision whereas this report has a wider brief – its purpose is to explore ‘ongoing
probation reforms and the extent to which changes are being managed in a way
likely to promote value for money’ (2016: 6). Notwithstanding this focus there is
significant overlap between the work of the NAO and HMIP. The NAO report
provides a very useful outline of the key facts of TR which can be reduced to
transformation based on eight different providers, through a structure of 21 com-
munity rehabilitation companies (CRCs) receiving some £3.7 billion over the life-
time of their contracts to reduce re-offending. Of this total amount £259 million is the
estimated payment-by-results to CRCs over the contract life based on a 3.7 per-
centage reduction in reoffending rates (0.7%of total contract costs). The report is
structured under four headings:
Part One: Establishing the new arrangements for probation – this provides an
excellent overview of the new arrangements, including diagrams of the roles
and responsibilities of all agencies within the new arrangements and the TR
timetable from 2012–15. The report also reminds the reader that despite
interest from over 700 private, public and third sector organizations, only
one of the CRCs (Durham Tees Valley) was won by a contractor from outside
the private sector. The mechanisms for earning revenue are clearly laid out as
372 Probation Journal 63(3)
To continue reading
Request your trial