Nathan Monk

The following accounts represent different personal views of the implications of performance culture in professional settings. The first, offered by a probation professional concerned with the implications for practice, is broadly positive about performance targets as a way of measuring, and therefore improving, service provision of diverse clients. The second account draws on research experience with one group of clients to indicate a more negative view of targeting. Both authors agree, however, that targeting is with us, and both in different ways argue for qualitative rather than quantitative measures.

A Practitioner Account – Diversity and Performance in Probation

This article represents a written version of one of two key note speeches delivered at the University of Bradford on June 6th 2008. The address, a personal view, was given in my capacity as Chief Probation Officer of the West Yorkshire Area of the National Probation Service. The focus of my paper was on the growth and implications of the performance culture on the work of the Probation Service.

Diversity and Performance – A Research View

This article represents written extracts from the second keynote speech given at the ‘Diversity in a Performance Culture Conference’ at the University of Bradford on June 6th 2008. The address, a personal view, was given in my capacity as Professor of Social Work at Bradford University. The focus of my talk was on the growth and implications of the performance culture identified within my personal experience and research, which, broadly speaking
focused on social work. However, the points I make could equally be applied to the probation service and other agencies with responsibility for providing services across the public sector .

In the last 25 years or so, the concept of ‘performance’ and its concomitant suffixes ‘culture’ and ‘indicators’ have come to dominate discourse surrounding public service policy and practice, as a consequence of a radical shift in the ethos of public sector provision that emerged following the election of the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher in 1979. The Probation Service was one of the last public sector agencies to come under the spotlight of public sector reform as, following the scrutiny of the health service, education, social work, it was required to address central issues of accountability, effectiveness and cost. This article examines the effects of this shift on the practice and management of probation over the past quarter of a century or so, particularly in terms its professionalism and organisation. Attention is paid to the ways in which ‘performance’ is understood and interpreted within probation practice. Whilst the focus, especially in terms of the timing, is on the experience of the probation service in England and Wales, it is suggested that the arguments put forward could be generally applicable to other parts of the UK and to systems in other parts of the world where neo-liberalist, market-dominated ideologies have been introduced.

‘It is a question of extracting from time, ever more available moments and, from each moment, ever more useful forces.’ (Foucault 1991 / 1975, P. 154)

Hate Crime can be defined as that section of criminal behaviour that is motivated by the victim’s membership or perceived membership of a particular group. Victims are commonly targeted on the basis of their ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, faith or a disability. In some instances legislation exists to prohibit it, for example the specific offence of ‘Inciting Racial Hatred’. In other cases, where hatred is contributory in the commission of a more generic offence, for example a criminal assault, it is regarded as an aggravating factor, and is thus accorded greater priority in its investigation. A successful prosecution can result in greater sanctions against the person convicted. However, it is a reality of the UK criminal justice system that not all hate crime is reported, not all of that reported is recognised for what it is, and not all of that recognised is recorded or prosecuted as such.

This article considers some of the complexities in how hate crime is defined and the issues relating to how it is addressed. With reference to the application of a performance framework to policing, this includes barriers to reporting by victims and recognition by police, and barriers to accurate recording. Included is a review of some of the available academic literature on the subject, but also an assessment of some of the systems and practical considerations of the police service in seeking to tackle the issue effectively.

Performance targeting has developed differently in the three key criminal justice agencies, police, prison and probation. The differences have, arguably, reflected both the character of the organisation and the specific history of the agency. Exploration of a performance culture, therefore, should reflect the commonalities and differences in the three arms of provision. In this article representatives of police, prison and probation present their own accounts of central performance issues (These accounts were made available as workshops during the conference). I, as author, have then brought these accounts together in order to provide interrogation of common, or uncommon, factors that can shed light on the central question: Is performance targeting beneficial or otherwise in meeting the needs of a diverse user group?

This paper explores the paradox that whilst the quantitative measures of prison performance in relation to ‘race relations’ indicate substantial improvements in service delivery, more qualitative measures of the quality of prison life appear to indicate little substantive improvement in race relations. Using the underrepresentation of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) prisoners in accredited offending behaviour related prison programmes as a case study to explore understandings of race relations, the paper reflects on whether the under representation indicates the operation of racial discrimination by prison staff or a refusal to participate by prisoners. It also explores other explanations for this phenomenon relating to the enactment of positive ethnic identities and  resistance to programmes that ignore such identities. The paper concludes by considering the challenge of developing an active prison culture that validates all ethnic identities in culturally appropriate ways.