Managing risk ‐ achieving protection? The police and probation agendas

In recent years the “protection of the public” has risen to the top of the law and order agenda, fostered by a populist Home Secretary. Not only has the effect been to raise the stakes in the sentencing process but also to shape the working and managerial agendas of criminal justice agencies. This article explores the potential of two agencies working to the same agenda of public protection, the police and probation service. It asks who will gain most from joint working and what might be lost in the process. It explores the difficulty of setting and achieving targets in an area fraught with so much uncertainty but etched into the public consciousness as needing action.