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How have different criminal justice agencies responded to the modernization process? What forms does modernization take? What lessons can be drawn to influence the future shape of criminal justice policy? Understanding Modernization in Criminal Justice is the first book to theorize modernization in the context of criminal justice. It provides a historically informed account tracing the evolving links between new public management and modernization as well as proposing a conceptual framework for understanding the impact of policies on each criminal justice agency in England and Wales. A variety of political strategies and tactics are identified, which contribute to the reform process. The extent of vulnerability, capacity for resistance or potential for transformation in each individual key agency is explored, including strategies of censure, compliance and commitment. The authors go on to analyse how these processes have occurred in an international context, in particular, the relationship between drivers of global crime and their impact in the context of England and Wales.This will challenge policy makers in all jurisdictions to consider the potential impact of new public management. The book concludes with a look ahead, anticipating developments in criminal justice sector after the departure of Tony Blair and potentially post a new Labour administration. Understanding Modernization in Criminal Justice is invaluable reading for those concerned with the administration of criminal justice at both a policy and managerial level; from students and academics wishing to understand the way agencies are responding to this agenda through to penal reformers and commentators.