My Rehabilitation Revolution
Author | Russell Webster |
Pages | 33-35 |
33
THOUGHT PIECE
'Thought Pieces' are papers which draw on the author's personal knowledge and
experience to offer stimulating and thought provoking ideas relevant to the aims of the
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normal way.
MY REHABILITATION REVOLUTION
Russell Webster, independent researcher, consultant, writer and trainer specialising in
substance misuse, crime and digital innovation. Russell blogs extensively on Transforming
Rehabilitation at www.russellwebster.com
I’ve spent a fair proportion of 2013 poring over the ever-changing d etails of Transforming
Rehabilitation (http://www.scoop.it/t/probation-review). Like many others, I’ve
questioned some of the core assumptions and worried about the challenges of
implementing a system that has an in-built fault-line between the new National Probation
Service and the proposed Community Rehabilitation Compan ies.
So, I thought it was about time that I took up the challenge posed to all critics of any
system:
“So, what would you do?”
All three major parties (I’m afraid I’m not up to speed on UKIP plans for the probation
service) have indicated that they are in fa vour of opening up rehabilitation services to
competition. So I’ve set out a 10 year plan on how to reduce reoffending while opening up
the market. My timescale is a lot less ambitious than TR’s d ash to be completed before the
2015 general election. Needles s to say, my plan has made liberal use of many oth er
people’s ideas.
A long term process
There is no doubt in my mind that it’s possib le to substantially reduce reoffending rat es.
The key to this is to introduce innovation while building on the very real successes of the
last 10 years. In my view, local commissioning is es sential to preserve local partnerships,
British Journal of Community Justice
©2013 Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield
ISSN 1475-0279
Vol. 11(2-3): 33-35
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