Evaluating the Evaluators: Researching the Accreditation of Offender Programmes

Abstract

This article reports findings from the evaluation by the Institute of Criminology of the Joint Prisons and Probation Accreditation Panel, now known as the Correctional Services Accreditation Panel (CSAP), undertaken for the Home Office during 2002 and recently published as a Home Office Research Study.¹ Drawing on the views of a range of stakeholders, observation of the Panel and review of the relevant literature and policy papers, we consider how the Panel has performed its central function of accrediting offender programmes and their delivery by the prison and probation services. We also consider the implications of our findings for its future work.