Probation Migration(s): Examining Occupational Culture in a Turbulent Field

• In Event: Outsourcing Probation Services in England and Wales: Theorizing and Documenting Change

Abstract

In June 2014 the majority of probation workers (approx. 62% of the total workforce) were transferred to the newly created Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) as part of the government’s plans to establish a market for offender management services. This marked the beginning of one of the largest and most significant migrations of criminal justice staff from the public to the private sector in England and Wales. This presentation considers the strategies staff employed to adapt or adopt new identities in response to their changed circumstances and the longer-term impact of the changes in undermining notions of a probation ethos and occupational culture(s).

Author

• Lol Burke, Liverpool John Moores University, UK