Performance-based policy in offender rehabilitation: Limitation or innovation for front-line workers in Liaison and Diversion services?
| Author | Paulo Rocha,Ann-Karin Holmen |
| DOI | 10.1177/0264550520926578 |
| Published date | 01 September 2020 |
| Date | 01 September 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Performance-based
policy in offender
rehabilitation: Limitation
or innovation for front-
line workers in Liaison
and Diversion services?
Paulo Rocha and Ann-Karin Holmen
Universitet i Stavanger, Norway
Abstract
In recent years, the English government has been using competitive elements in the
process of allocating public funds through policy. Front-line workers struggle with the
limitations imposed by such a model. A qualitative case study was conducted to
investigate the impact of a new performance-based policy on front-line workers of a
public service called Liaison and Diversion. The findings demonstrated that profes-
sionals have been adapting the policy to local circumstances found at the street level.
We argued that adaptation is a form of employee-based innovation that optimises the
use of scarce resources and customises services to the clients.
Keywords
performance-based policymaking, Liaison and Diversion, front-line workers, limita-
tions, innovation, offender rehabilitation, England and Wales
Introduction
A large number of vulnerable individuals, that is, people with mental health,
learning disability, substance misuse, and other psychosocial vulnerabilities (NHS
England Liaison and Diversion Programme, 2014), enter the criminal justice system
Corresponding Author:
Paulo Rocha, Universitet i Stavanger, PO Box 8600 FORUS, 4036 Stavanger, Norway.
Email: paulo.t.bastosrocha@uis.no
The Journal of Community and Criminal Justice
Probation Journal
2020, Vol. 67(3) 198–213
ªThe Author(s) 2020
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/0264550520926578
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every day. The antisocial behaviour that leads them towards wrongdoing is
understood to be related to their vulnerabilities, which could be by and large
grappled with in the community (Andrews and Bonta, 2016). Strategies devised to
assist these have to address clusters of correlated needs and provide multifaceted
solutions (Andrews and Bonta, 2016) in a timely manner (Armstrong, 2012; Min-
istry of Justice UK, 2013; Sinha, 2010) so to ensure desistance from further criminal
behaviour (Fazel and Danesh, 2002; Fazel and Wolf, 2015; World Health
Organization, 2005). To that end, the involvement of welfare services in the
rehabilitation process is crucial to increase the individuals’ chances of remaining
crime-free (Hean et al., 2009; Strype et al., 2014).
In the context of offender rehabilitation in England and Wales, a public service
called Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion (L&D) is one means to promote colla-
borative interactions between organisations in criminal justice and welfare services.
The service provides prearrest support for vulnerable people as they come to the
attention of the criminal justice system. L&D also collaborates with the police, youth
offending teams, and court staff to provide critical information to decision makers in
the justice system regarding charging and sentencing. In addition, L&D functions as
a point of referral and follow-up for service users, so that they can access and are
supported to attend community treatment and rehabilitation appointments (NHS
England, 2018).
L&D is a form of diversion that has been locally organised and funded over the
past three decades (Reed, 1992). However, in 2014, a performance-based
national model for L&D services pre-empted local policies with the goal to stan-
dardise practice across sites nationwide (NHS England Liaison and Diversion Pro-
gramme, 2014). It attempted to do so by specifying outcomes to be equally
achieved and dovetailing funding for the services to their performance (Glas et al.,
2018).
Although studies have investigated the impact of the national model on L&D
services (Disley et al., 2016; Parker et al., 2018), they have focused on service-level
outcomes (e.g. arrest rates, diversion rates, and referrals to other services), and little
attention was paid at the perspective of professionals at the front line. As explained
by Lipsky (2010), front-line workers traditionally operate under bureaucratic con-
straints and with limited resources. Under these conditions, they tend to struggle with
equating top-down instructions and the needs existent at the street level (Hill and
Huppe, 2014). Thus, addressing the perspective of front-line workers is also crucial
to verify the impact of the national model for L&D services on practice.
The aim of our study was to add to the literature on policy implementation and
innovation in the public sector by introducing the standpoint of front-line profes-
sionals on the national performance-based model for L&D services. To that end, we
posed the question ‘How has the introduction of a performance-based national
model for Liaison & Diversion services impacted front-line practice?’, and through
the perspective of front-line workers of an L&D site in England, this article attempts
(1) to investigate how the model has been implemented at the street level and (2) to
examine the strategies deployed by L&D front-line workers to implement the national
model.
Rocha and Holmen 199
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