Digging up the Grassroots: The Impact of Marketisation and Managerialism on Local Justice 1997-2013
Author | Phil Bowen, Dr Jane Donoghue |
Pages | 9-20 |
9
DIGGING UP THE GRASSROOTS? THE IMPACT OF
MARKETISATION AND MANAGERIALISM ON LOCAL
JUSTICE, 1997 TO 2013
Phil Bowen, Director of the Centre for Justice Innovation and Dr Jane Donoghue, Reader in
Law, Lancaster University
Abstract
Since 1997, successive governments have undertaken fundamental reforms to the
criminal justice system in England and Wales. Many of the policy reforms enacted during
this period have had principles of managerialism and marketisation of criminal justice
services at their core, which ha ve at times appeared counter-intuitive to pa rallel
objectives which emphasise ‘ localism’ and efforts to promote com munity justice. This
article identifies the core concepts of local and com munity justice and examines their
inter-relationship and (ir)reconcilability with co mpeting trends of managerialism and
marketisation since the election of the Labour Government in 1997. The prospects for
local and community justice since the election of the Coalition government i n 2010 are
considered. The article concludes by arguing that the justice marketisation trend, of which
Transforming Rehabilitation (MoJ, 2013b) is a prime example, is the continuation of a
specific operating model, of which advocates of local justice should undoubtedly be
skeptical.
Keywords
local justice; community justice; marketisation; mana gerialism
British Journal of Community Justice
©2013 Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield
ISSN 1475-0279
Vol. 11(2-3): 9-20
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