What good are markets in punishment?

Armstrong, S.C. (2007) What good are markets in punishment? Prison Service Journal, 172, pp. 1-4.

Abstract

There are two chronically unexamined assumptions about privatisation in punishment. First is the idea that it is a relatively new development. In fact, penal activity has always been (at least partly) private. Second, it is assumed that the state can create a market when and where it wants. This article aims to unpack such intuitions in order to expose neglected aspects of privatisation in punishment. I argue that the experiment with the kinds of privatisation that sceptics worry most about, private companies owning and running whole prisons, has amounted to a ripple rather than a tidal wave in the sea of penal activity. Attempts to increase the private sector's role have largely failed to produce efficient markets. These activities have been transformative, however, by instilling a market ethos among public servants and a professional identity as business managers rather than as agents of social control. A case study of an American jurisdiction that attempted to privatise all of its youth justice institutions provides the data for this analysis.

• Item Type: Articles
• Keywords: prison privatization, privatisation, penal policy, UK, Scotland, Massachusetts
• Status: Published
• Refereed: No
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Armstrong, Professor Sarah
• Authors: Armstrong, S.C.
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare; H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
• Research Group: Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research
• Journal Name: Prison Service Journal
• Publisher: HM Prison Service
• ISSN: 0300-3558
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2007 HM Prison Service
• First Published: First published in Prison Service Journal 172:(1-4)
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence