Improving interagency collaboration, innovation and learning in criminal justice systems: supporting offender rehabilitation. S. Hean, B. Johnsen, A. Kajamaa & L. Kloetzer (Eds.) Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan/Springer Nature Switzerland AG. 2021. 475pp. €53.49 (hbk); €42.79 (pbk) ISBN: 978-3-030-70660-9; 978-3-030-70663-0; open access ISBN: 978-3-030-70661-6 (ebk)

Abstract

Although by no means a ‘given’, in terms of implementation in practice, good multidisciplinary working and interagency co-operation have always been critically important as goals to be achieved by criminal justice organisations and the other systems with which they interact. Such co-operation is especially important if positive client outcomes are to be maximised. In more recent times, such themes and issues have achieved more prominence, as governments, their ministries and agencies have striven to ensure more ‘joined-up’ working between the criminal justice system and the health and social service sectors, to drive greater effectiveness and efficiency. Consideration of interagency co-operation though, is often set against a backdrop of frustration expressed by various players and stakeholders regarding the perceived and real barriers to productive collaboration.

These barriers are frequently evidenced in so-called ‘siloed’ working and thinking, where individual organisations and agencies – and those working in them – can sometimes appear to be more concerned with preserving and protecting their own interests and resources, as opposed to ‘putting the person/client at the centre of concerns’. To begin with, interagency co-operation can be a challenge even within and among the various criminal justice agencies themselves; however such challenges are often magnified and more difficult to resolve in relation to how the penal system, for example, collaborates with health and social services more widely. And just to add to these challenges, it can be difficult, if not impossible, for those involved to ‘get under the bonnet’ of interagency relationships, so as to better understand and thereby improve them. The present publication goes some way to exploring and explaining these challenges and demystifying many of the issues involved.

As referenced in one of the papers in this book, interagency and multidisciplinary collaboration is ‘a fuzzy concept’ (p.258), which can lead to lack of mutual understanding, language and goals, not to mention a lack of shared analysis of appropriate processes and ways to improve them. This general lack of understanding in common can militate, in conjunction with a range of other factors, against the ready or easy application of such co-operation in practice, even with the best intentions of those involved.

Fieldwork for the studies in question was undertaken in Norway, Finland and the United Kingdom. The 17 chapters are each written by between two and seven co-authors, drawn mostly from a range of academic and research backgrounds, as well as a number of individuals who might describe themselves as ‘practitioners’, representing a total of 35 distinct contributors. In that context, the editors and contributors have achieved a consistency of approach and presentation throughout the volume, which is to be applauded. Following an introductory ‘setting the scene’ chapter by the editors, the substantive collection of papers or chapters are grouped under three headings: Parts One and Two address International contexts of collaborative practice in a variety of penal contexts, in Norway and England respectively. Part Three, the largest of the sections, includes ten papers under the heading – Strategies and methods to promote collaboration and innovation. The various chapters focus in large part on the experience and perspectives of frontline workers as they map, explore and explain their understandings and daily outworking of collaborative efforts, as well as the challenges involved and how these are being, or might be, addressed. They tellingly identify some ‘under the radar’ challenges, which may not be immediately recognised by those directly involved, but which can be surfaced and then addressed through facilitated and structured exploration, as described here.

Some papers in the collection explore issues such as the impact on workers themselves of short-term ‘success’ or ‘failure’ in delivering reintegration programmes. The concept of the service user is also explored to good effect, in relation to those who are the clients or end users of various services. The term could also be utilised in relation to the analysis of the frontline workers’ perspective on service delivery, in a context where the latters’ experience and perspective may differ from those of colleagues in other organisations as well as to their own organisations’ expectations regarding service provision and, indeed, interagency co-operation. Various papers also focus on how academic, educational and research institutions can develop more productive relationships with service delivery organisations, not just to produce better research but also acting as collaborative triggers ‘for organisations to take these findings forward to make change and innovation for themselves’ (pp.17–18).

In addition to a number of analytical tools, which are helpfully explained throughout and listed at the front of the book, a very useful list of terminological terms and abbreviations is also included. A number of similarly useful diagrammatic figures are also used in a number of chapters, to illustrate complex interagency and multidisciplinary relations, process and programmes. In summary, this publication is a very useful and welcome addition to the all-too-scarce analytical literature on the critical topic of the theory and challenging practice of interagency and multidisciplinary co-operation, in particular as it relates to the penal system and health and social services. This is not all to say that everything can be readily explained and easily ‘fixed’ in the world of interagency collaboration, as explored here across a number of jurisdictions and organisational and practice settings. That said, all of the contributions to this book, individually and collectively, exude a freshness and frankness in exploring and discussing the realities as well as the potential for positive change. All of the papers bring a welcome clarity to the themes and issues explored. The longer-term impact of the studies presented here remains to be seen, as does the question of whether such impact may be generalised more widely in the services in question, across different jurisdictions.

As someone who, over many years as both probation practitioner and manager/leader, struggled to better understand as well as to promote and advance the cause of interagency co-operation, this reviewer welcomes the considerable scholarship and practical value that this book brings to the field. The fact that the book is available on open access electronically, as well as to purchase in hard copy, should help it to be, indeed, the trigger for innovation and positive change that it can be and that is clearly a primary intention of this excellent publication and those who contributed to its production.