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Figures published by the Ministry of Justice show significant progress against New Labour's targets to reduce reoffending by young people within the youth justice system. The outgoing government was, unsurprisingly, quick to infer that such findings constituted corroboration of the improved effectiveness of youth justice practice under their administration. This article considers whether such an inference is warranted and discusses other potential explanations of the data.

In December 2010, the Ministry of Justice published its criminal justice reform green paper, Breaking the Cycle: Effective punishment, rehabilitation and sentencing of offenders, which sets out the government's ambition for all criminal justice services to be delivered according to payment by results principles by 2015. This article describes the proposals contained in the green paper to implement a process of payment by results across the criminal justice system, examines some existing examples of payment by results‐based projects, and discusses some of the key questions that need to be resolved in the development of this new approach.

The criminal justice system in England and Wales is being reconstructed on a new operating platform of which Payment by Results (PbR) is the material signifier. This critical historic transformation is occurring during a period of radical economic disruption and political restructuring after 2007-2008. PbR signals the deeper penetration of the core principles of capitalism into the body of the state and its welfare and criminal justice system. Conceptually a Lacanian-Žižekian framework is put to work to theorise these important transformations. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The design and methodology of this research paper utilises open sources and documentary materials on the development of PbR, in its application primarily to the criminal justice system.

There is evidence that PbR, located within the wider context of capitalist reconstruction, is radically transforming the delivery of criminal justice services.

This is the first critical analysis of PbR located within the context of late modern capitalism.

This chapter reviews the economic turn in criminology to contextualise the prominence of market rationalities in penal privatisation and outsourcing in England and Wales. It illuminates how fiscal crisis and austerity have provided opportunities for transferring state penal assets and powers to private interests on an unprecedented scale. A series of scandals relating to fraud and mismanagement by private companies have revealed regulatory gaps and wilful oversight on the part of legislators. These factors virtually guarantee that state regulators will continue to be disadvantaged in asserting the public interest.

The chapter brings together the literatures on prison privatisation with theoretical critiques of neoliberal influences on state disaggregation. It applies those insights to recent trends and controversies surrounding the privatisation of prison and probation services in England and Wales.

The race to privatise more prisons and resettlement provisions in England and Wales is placing additional strains on an already inadequate regulatory system, which virtually guarantees that future scandals and crises relating to private sector custodianship will recur.

This chapter explores the under-appreciated criminogenic and governmental challenges to the regulatory environment which are brought about by outsourcing.

Many countries aim to improve public services by use of information and communication technology (ICT) in public service supply chains. However, the literature does not address how inter-organizational ICT is used in redesigning these particular supply chains. The purpose of this paper is to explore this important and under-investigated area.

An explorative multiple-case study was performed based on 36 interviews, 39 documents, extensive field visits and observations providing data on digital transformation in four European criminal justice supply chains.

Two different design approaches to digital transformation were found, which are labelled digitization and digitalization. These approaches are characterized by differences in public service strategies, performance aims, and how specific public characteristics and procedures are dealt with. Despite featuring different roles for ICT, both types show the viable digital transformation of public service supply chains. Additionally, the application of inter-organizational ICT is found not to automatically result in changes in the coordination and management of the chain, in contrast to common assumptions.

This paper is one of the first to adopt an inter-organizational perspective on the use of ICT in public service supply chains. The findings have scientific and managerial value because fine-grained insights are provided into how public service supply chains can use ICT in an inter-organizational setting. The study shows the dilemmas faced by and possible options for public organizations when designing digital service delivery.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of organizational goal ambiguity (OGA) on public service motivation (PSM) considering the mediating role of job satisfaction (JS), performance appraisal (PA) and perceived organizational fairness (POF) in the Iranian public sector. This research also seeks to answer this question: to what extent PSM confirmed in Western countries is generalizable to the Iranian public sector?

A survey of 779 employees working in 16 ministries of Iran was administered. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and hierarchical regression were applied to test the model and the mediators.

The results indicate that OGA negatively affects PSM, and this relationship is mediated by JS, PA and POF. Furthermore, the research findings have varied across ministries, contract type, positions and gender. Most importantly, the generalizability of the PSM construct is limited in the public sector of Iran since two of four dimensions of PSM were confirmed, that is, an attraction to public service and self-sacrifice (compassion).

This paper provides managers and decision makers with a clear understanding of the effects of context (including goal ambiguity, the importance of employee's attitudes and HR systems in shaping unique intrinsic motivation for public organizations) on employee's PSM. Also, these findings show how they can manage and motivate employees to engage in PSM. By clarifying organizational goals or making an association between job tasks and higher-level goals, practitioners can stimulate PSM at work.

This paper advances a new and further understanding of antecedent and mediators of PSM in Iran. Also, it provides an explanation of its generalizability and the role of organizational climate in fostering it.

In December 2010, the Ministry of Justice published Breaking the Cycle: Effective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Offenders, the Government's Green Paper on criminal justice reform. This paper seeks to discuss the implications of this Green Paper on housing for offenders.

This paper examines the proposals set out in the Green Paper, and in particular the intention to deliver rehabilitative services on a payment‐by‐results basis, and discusses its implications for housing for offenders.

The paper argues that the Green Paper is primarily focused on improving rehabilitation and reducing re‐offending, and that improved access for offenders to housing is essential if this is to be successful. However, it demonstrates that there are significant barriers to be overcome in achieving this and argues that criminal justice service providers and housing providers will need to work together to ensure that these issues are addressed.

The government's proposals to reform the criminal justice system, contained in the Green Paper Breaking the Cycle, are focused primarily on rehabilitation. Improved access for offenders to appropriate and sustainable housing is essential if this is to be successful, as the Green Paper recognises, and a combination of some specific measures and a general move to payment‐by‐results for rehabilitation services is intended to deliver this. However, there are significant barriers to overcome in achieving this and further challenges are presented by cuts in services and changes to housing and welfare policy.

To share the experience of implementing a single, shared electronic system for managing paper and electronic mail and files in all of the offices of the French Ministry of Justice's central administration in order to improve control and management consistency.

Discusses the situation prior to implementation of the new MESSAGER electronic (workflow) system and the inherent problems. Explains how files are managed through a basic data field called “file type” which includes retention information, in the new system. Shares the project timelines and discusses the involvement of staff in its design and implementation.

The system has brought office improvements in mail and file management, more efficient handling of business, as well as better service to those seeking justice in the justice system. Outlines ongoing challenges. The Archives Service has been able to increase its visibility and role in electronic archiving as a result of being part of the project.

Highlights the role played by the Archives Service and the benefits accrued; the importance of including department representatives in the project team.

This paper is a useful case study of implementing a shared electronic system for managing particular types of records (mail) across several offices within a central government department and the critical success factors.