Joining-up Criminal Justice at the Local Level: The Case of the Warwickshire Justice Centre Programme

The Auld Review found the different ‘practices, procedures, management and cultures’ that exist within the criminal justice system to be ‘confusing, divisive and inefficient’ (Auld, 2001, Justice for All, 2002: 148). This research is concerned with this perceived problem of ‘co-ordination and control’ (Richards, 2001: 64) and as such looks to examine the implications of closer integration (joining-up) between criminal justice organisations at the local criminal justice area level. As the result of an ESRC collaborative studentship this thesis offers an examination of the first local criminal justice area to implement a model of joined-up criminal justice predicated upon both co-location and integration. This research did not begin with the assumption that joined-up justice was a goal that was either practically deliverable or theoretically desirable and argues that citizens have a stake in not only the efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal justice process but in its fairness and integrity (Moore, 2001: 41; Raine, 2005: 291; Garland, 2001: 50).

This research focused on the Warwickshire Justice Centre Programme and utilised a single case study research strategy, an interpretive methodology and qualitative research methods. A tailored conceptual framework was developed to look at the unique case of Warwickshire that built upon previous literature in the areas of innovation (and its links to improvement), integration and integrity (judicial independence). Data was collected over a 3 year period using a purposive sampling technique which aimed to include diversity in the sample whilst learning from key informants. Data collected included; 60 semi-structured interviews, 73 roving interviews, over 300 hours of observation, documentary analysis and short surveys completed by members of the public (n=75) and Warwickshire criminal justice staff (n=26). All interviews were recorded and transcribed and data analysis took the form of an interpretive thematic coding approach which included elements of both content analysis and grounded theory.

The evidence within this research arguably supports a continued separation between criminal justice organisations for both reasons of organisation (producing benefits from task specialisation and collaboration) and of independence (maintaining due process protections). It is argued that the tensions in the criminal justice system are generative and act to preserve judicial independence. There was however evidence found that in practice the gap between collaboration and collusion (‘stitched up justice’) was big enough that potential improvements from ‘joining-up’ for criminal justice organisations, tax payers and users (including offenders) was a real prospect that Warwickshire at the end of this research was starting to demonstrate. This research offers a contribution by examining the idea of integration within a context that requires the maintenance of integrity to meet its wider aims. By bringing together theory about management, organisation, criminal justice and public law as partial explanations of aspects of the joined-up criminal justice agenda this thesis aims to offer an account that explores the tensions between the pressures to integrate and the institutionalised value of separation within the context of contemporary criminal justice.