How do you solve a problem like cJustice? Community Chaplaincy Workshop October 2014

The premise Finding a solution … but what is the problem?

Session content ●My interest ●‘McJustice’ o Policy  Value for money  Payment by results o Practice  Implications for offending  Implications for relationships ●Faith as an alternative discourse

Session ethos This is a politically driven topic analysed using sociological and theological tools: ●Be critical ●What do you agree with? ●What makes sense? ●What conflicts with your perspective? ●What should be disregarded and what pursued?

Introduction Bauman and the riots: ●“These are riots of defective and disqualified consumers” ●Anomie theory ●“All consumers now, consumers first and foremost”

Exercise 1 What are your initial thoughts on consumerism and commodification as concepts within the criminal justice system relevant to community chaplaincy?

Defining terms - McJustice McDonaldisation offers: ●Efficiency ●Predictability ●Calculability ●Control Weber’s rationalisation of Western society: ●Irrationality of rationality ●Humanity denied

Confession Mmmm!

Application problems Supersize Me … health problems

Exercise 2 Discussion point: ●Have you observed any of these trends within your role? ●How reasonable an analytical tool is the concept?

Policy Swift and Sure Justice ●Magna Carta ●Swift - prompt and efficient ●Sure - reliable and commanding public confidence ●Public perception

Swift - prompt and efficient ●Early guilty pleas ●Longer opening ●More public ●Better value and use of technology London riots an example but...

Sure - reliable and commanding confidence “firm grip on offenders” ●Prisons place of work ●More and tougher community sentences ●Focus on communities rather than targets Achieved through a mixed economy of provision

McJustice in Swift and Sure ●Is prompt justice good justice? ●Rational systems becoming unreasonable ●Increasingly public, increasingly confident? ●Increased reliability, decreased individuality ●Community engagement or controlled bureaucracy? ●Replacement by technology

Policy - Swift and Sure My Conclusions Common sense? ●Value for money ●Payment by results Faith sense? ●Value - Imagio Dei ●Results - Common good

Exercise 3 ●How reasonable is the analysis? ●What would this mean for the expectations of services which might be provided by community chaplaincy? ●What would a faith informed response look like?

Considering the impact of the consumer society We are, “all consumers now, consumers first and foremost.” Bauman (1998)

Consumerism and the offender Offending: ●Consumerist anomie ●Exclusion from success criteria for a consumer lifestyle ●McDonaldised interventions & desistance

Exercise 4 ●How does this fit in with a faith perspective of understanding criminal behaviour? ●What does this mean in informing our responses to crime?

Consumerism and the offender Relationship to criminal justice staff: ●Consumer as king ●Consumer as victim ●Consumer as criminal ●Consumer as anti- consumer ●Consumer as voyeur

Consumerism and the practitioner Area’s at risk from commodification: ●Respect ●Compassion ●Equality ●Security versus justice ●Security versus branding

Exercise 5 ●How have ‘value for money’ pressures impacted on your practice in community chaplaincy? ●How can any of these concerns be addressed?

How do you solve a problem like cJustice? Developing an alternative discourses: ●Do we want an efficient business model of criminal justice? ●How can we design an alternative? ●How can we communicate the value of an alternative?

Conclusion Some leaving reflections ●Be aware of potential disenfranchisement ●Encourage personal transformation ●Challenge social transformation and values ●Moral and not just economic issue