Square Pegs and Round Holes: Performance Measurement in the Police and Prison Services

Recent decades have seen a substantial growth in the influence of ‘new managerialist' techniques of performance measurement within the criminal justice system. Consequently the police forces of England and Wales are increasingly conceptualised in terms of performance, analysis of performance and resource allocation. This paper draws upon an evaluation of a performance measurement project created and piloted by an English police force. Beginning with a general description of performance measurement, we will proceed to outline our research and then apply our findings to the context of the prison service.