[CivicAccess-discuss] Reflections on the Role of Inspection in Driving Up Quality in the Criminal Justice System

[Dwight Hines]

Shute, Stephen.  On the Outside Looking In: Reflections on the Role of
Inspection in Driving Up Quality in the Criminal Justice System.  Modern
Law Review, *Volume 76*, 2013, 494-528.

Abstract

“This article examines the role of external inspection in enhancing the
quality of a criminal justice system.  It seeks to answer six foundational
questions: how should we understand the nature and purposes of criminal
justice inspection?  what methodologies ought it to employ?  who should do
it?  what values should it respect?  how much does it cost?  and does it
work?  The article reveals that the difference between inspection and other
forms of scrutiny activity is largely a matter of emphasis; that the same
is true of the difference between inspection and research; that ‘lay’
involvement in inspection can be beneficial; that independence is a core
value for inspection, albeit one that is best understood as independence of
judgement; that transparency is a further key value but not always
honoured; and that evidence that inspection improves service delivery and
hence justifies its costs is weak and further research is needed.”


Even though the article focuses on the inspection systems for England and
Wales, I found the article outstanding in providing a context for
transparency, for discussion on how their systems of inspection have
evolved, and how our systems for inspection are quite weak compared to the
English-Welsh systems.

Dwight Hines

Maine, USA
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