Michael J Gilbert - Privatization of Criminal Justice: Past Present and Future

Private participation in the provision of public services including criminal justice is not a new phenomenon. That is especially true for countries having an Anglo-Saxon historical and cultural heritage. During the last two decades since the beginning of the Reagan and Thatcher administrations in the United States and the United Kingdom respectively, this trend has expanded in criminal justice. Currently, private companies not only continue their long-standing practice of supplying goods and services (food, medical care, education programs, etc.) to various components of the criminal justice system, but now they also control offenders. Thus, for-profit private companies and individuals are providing policing, inmate transportation, diversion programs, bail bonds, justice services, and management of confinement facilitiesjails and prisons.

Undoubtedly, this wide-scale private participation in such basic government functions as the keeping of peace and rendering of justice, both of which involve life and death decisions (use of deadly force), loss of liberty and punishment of citizens have an impact not only on the criminal justice system, but on society as a whole. The chapters in this volume focus on the nature and extent of this impact on the criminal justice system in the United States.

There are four major parts in the book. Part I reviews the history and the general issues behind the growing use of privatization within criminal justice. Smith and Morn focus on the history of privatization across the justice system. Their discussion makes it clear that privatization in criminal justice has deep roots in the history of western culture. They document the existence of two justice systems, one for those with economic resources and one for those without. Historically, the private exercise of justicepolicing, confinement, and prosecutionallowed affluent offenders to benefit from both more lenient treatment and a broader range of services. Stoltz analyzes the potential influence of private actors in the criminal justice system upon justice policymaking. She describes the development of subgovernments in various components of the criminal justice system. These subgovernments involve formal and informal relationships between public and private actors to influence public policy. Depending on the power balances, at different times and on different issues, one side may become more influential than the others in determining policy. The third chapter in this part, by Gilbert How Much Is Too Much Privatization in Criminal Justice frames the boundary issues surrounding the use of privatization in criminal justice. He suggests a set of parameters defining appropriate and inappropriate forms of privatization and provides a model for understanding and managing the risks that come with privatization.

Part II focuses on privatization in various components of the criminal justice system. Calder provides a critical analysis of private policing and security. He shows how the distinction between public and private policing is becoming blurred. Traditional police functions are increasingly performed by corporations, while public police personnel are increasingly involved in providing services for private use. The author examines the legal implications of this blurring between public and private policing. In the chapter titled Rent-a-Judge and Hide a Crime, Judge Russell describes the increasing trend toward use of private judges in resolving disputes without making them public. This is particularly attractive to corporations that have the ability to use the civil justice system in avoiding criminal procedures for their law and regulatory violations. This strategy, while helping to decrease the pressure on the criminal justice system, at the same time allows influential groups to maintain a positive public image. This manipulation is not open to the typical working-class clients of the criminal justice system.

Sechrest and Robby discuss public and private substance abuse treatment programs. The private sector has been extensively involved in offender treatment programs of all types for a long time. There is a proliferation of programs managed by both for-profit and non-profit (religious, self-help, and other) organizations. When it comes to treatment of offenders, those organizations operate under contract or agreement with government agencies or the courts. This relationship may involve direct public funding or payment by clients who are under court order. The authors' review identifies some differences in the operations of private for-profit, non-profit, and public treatment programs in spite of the fact that there are few direct comparisons available. Furthermore, because of large number of programs using a wide variety of treatment techniques, evaluations are sparse and difficult to conduct. But as the authors point out, evaluations are badly needed.

The chapter by Kiekbusch focuses on the unique character of jail privatization. Jails represent a large market that has been greatly underutilized by the private confinement industry. Kiekbusch documents the nature and scope of the current state of private sector jail operations and distinguishes it from prison privatization. Perhaps the most unique and important aspect of this chapter is Kiekbusch's analysis of the constraining factors that limit private sector involvement in operations. Yet, jails are probably the high dollar market of the future for criminal justice privatization.