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'What Works' and the Correctional Services Accreditation Panel:Taking stock from an inside perspective

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Donald Grubin

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Abstract

This article provides an 'insider' perspective on the work of the Correctional Services Accreditation Panel (CSAP) of England and Wales, a key plank of the government's 'What Works' strategy and in particular its aim of reducing re-offending through the development of 'gold standard', 'evidence-based' interventions (principally but not exclusively offending behaviour programmes). The article begins with a brief discussion of the concept of accreditation, its value and potential drawbacks. It then provides an account of CSAP's working practices and some reflections on the results of its work so far, set against the background of challenges and tensions arising from a changing policy environment, resource constraints, mixed results from outcome studies, and debates about what some perceived as an over-narrow remit for accreditation. It concludes with some thoughts about possible future directions for CSAP or successor bodies with broadly similar goals.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Maguire M, Grubin D, Losel F, Raynor P

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Criminology & Criminal Justice

Year: 2010

Volume: 10

Issue: 1

Pages: 37-58

Print publication date: 01/02/2010

Date deposited: 12/08/2010

ISSN (print): 1748-8958

ISSN (electronic): 1748-8966

Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1748895809352651

DOI: 10.1177/1748895809352651

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