Criminal justice managers: setting targets or becoming targeted?

Despite the rhetoric of new public sector management, criminal justice agencies in England and Wales are still driven by a political agenda. Initiatives, such as the setting of targets and increased efficiency objectives, can be over‐ridden not only by reversals of government policy but by clashing agency policies. The absence of a clear management strategy for all criminal justice agencies renders them liable to sudden change in a sensitive political climate. Analyses case examples discussing cautioning of offenders and the granting of bail to demonstrate the “knock‐on” effects of policy change in one area for a whole series of agencies further along the line. Concludes that moral panics and political pressure are greater predictors of managerial change than sound business sense.