news

Summary

Rumgay, Judith (2000). Accountability in the delivery of community penalties: To whom, for what, and why? In Community penalties: Change and challenges, eds. Anthony Bottoms, Loraine Gelsthorpe, and Sue Rex, 126-145. Cambridge Criminal Justice Series. Devon, UK: Willan Publishing.

Noting a number of governmental policy changes in recent years, Rumgay observes that the Probation Service in the United Kingdom finds itself struggling with multiple, diverse lines of accountability – for example, between enforcement and voluntarism, victims and offenders, and statutory and non-statutory allegiances. In this chapter she pursues the potential of one vision for clarifying the Service’s accountable relationships and the implications of that clarity for delivery of community penalties. That vision is harm minimization. Specifically, she examines in detail whether harm minimization is an acceptable mission and an accountable mission.