Authors

Chris Fox

Abstract

Rates of re-offending are high both for offenders leaving prison and people on community sentences. Many offenders have complex needs and dependencies. Over recent decades the social care sector has pursued policies that have dramatically reduced the use of institutional settings, driven by localism and the ‘personalisation’ of services including personal budgets. The time is ripe to implement similar models in the criminal justice system. Concepts within offender management theory, such as ‘desistance’ and the ‘Good Lives’ model of rehabilitation draw on a similar set of ideas and seek to identify the assets offenders can draw on (personal, family and community) to co-produce resettlement plans. In this session Professor Chris Fox discusses personalised approaches to working with offenders. He argues that ‘personalisation’ is a way to operationalize the concept of desistance and embed it in practice. This raises questions about how to commission personalised services. Chris will argue that Justice Reinvestment provides a framework for criminal justice reform and for commissioning personalised services, and, following on from Michael Gove’s recent Panorama programme he argues for a distinct, UK version of Justice Reinvestment