NCJ Number
228243
Journal
Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 48 Issue: 4 Dated: September 2009 Pages: 401-410
Date Published
September 2009
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Troubling issues for the voluntary sector are highlighted due to the presence of penal reforms and their implications to charities involvement in the bid to run a new prison in the United Kingdom.
Abstract
Argument is presented that a combination of poorly implemented market reforms to the criminal justice sector, and the increasing dependence of many charities on government funding is leading some voluntary organizations to compromise their campaigning and advocacy roles. There is risk to the identity of the voluntary sector with a split between quasi-governmental organizations and those charities that actually remain independent. Nacro, one of the United Kingdom's largest charities helping thousands of people in the criminal justice system a year, was one concerned with the contestability reforms. With Nacro's bid to run a prison, alongside private companies in a consortium, a combination of poorly implemented market reforms in the criminal justice system and the hyperactive expansion of the voluntary sector brought a prominent charity to the brink of an identity crisis, as well as highlighted the extent to which the voluntary sector as a whole faces a similar crisis of identity. Appendixes and references