Book Review: Aaron Pycroft and Dennis Gough (eds), Multi-agency Working in Criminal Justice. Theory, Policy and Practice
| Author | Ester Blay |
| DOI | 10.1177/2066220319895831 |
| Published date | 01 December 2019 |
| Date | 01 December 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
206 European Journal of Probation 11(3)
Aaron Pycroft and Dennis Gough (eds) Multi-agency Working in Criminal Justice. Theory,
Policy and Practice, Policy Press: Bristol, United Kingdom, 2nd edn., 2019;
308 pp.: ISBN 978-1447340249, £24.99
Reviewed by: Ester Blay, University of Girona, Spain
Multi-agency Working in Criminal Justice is an edited collection of 17 contributions on a
wide array of multi-agency arrangements involving diverse public, private and voluntary
organizations in the field of criminal justice. This volume presents the second edition of a
2010 edited collection with the same title. There are two relevant differences between the
editions of the book. One of the differences is that the second edition has a wider perspec-
tive than the first, thus enlarging the previous focus on multi-agency arrangements around
probation and the treatment of offenders, to include those involving policing, prisons and
other criminal justice areas. The other difference has to do with changes and time: the first
book was published in 2010, in the midst of the economic crises; in 2019, the conse-
quences of the crises and the austerity policies put forward to address it have impacted
both British society and the criminal justice field.
The book is not divided into titled sections, but the editors explicitly suggest the fol-
lowing internal division, which facilitates a structured reading of the book. Thus, contents
may be grouped as follows: the two first contributions work as a theoretical and contex-
tual introduction to the rest of the collection (section 1); the next four chapters address the
main multi-agency arrangements in Britain in local criminal justice delivery, integrated
offender management, multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPAS), and
arrangements regarding victims of domestic abuse (section 2); then there are various con-
tributions on policing (section 3); contributions around prison (section 4); and 3 chapters
on community interventions (section 5).
As pointed out before, the first two chapters, written by the editors, work as a theoreti-
cal introduction to the rest of the volume. Chapter 1 is entitled “Multi-agency working
and the governance of crime control” and aims at connecting the various multi-agency
arrangements in the criminal justice field with “political and societal developments par-
ticularly in relation to the nature of contemporary government and the fluid relationships
between the state and law and order” (p. 5). Chapter 2, under the title “From a trained
incapacity to professional resistance in the criminal justice”, constitutes a defense of
reflective/critical practice by practitioners in the various agencies and arrangements in
the criminal justice field, much needed in the aftermath of the austerity policies. The
chapter finishes with a call for resistance towards the hegemony of neoliberal policies
and proposes a new “transdisciplinary approach” needed to find “a common ground of
understanding between differing teams and organizations based upon mutuality rather
than competition” (p. 36).
The contributions on community interventions address arrangements to respond to
suspects and offenders with a mental health problem, drug misuse and young offenders,
respectively (chapters 15 to 17). Chapter 15 focuses on multi-agency responses to offend-
ers with a mental health problem; with a grounding on the Good Lives Model, the paper
starts by pointing at the presence of individuals with mental health problems at all levels
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