The Challenges of Outcome Measurement for Arts Practitioners in the Criminal Justice Sector

Arts activities have long been used to help rehabilitate offenders and there is anecdotal evidence to support their transformative power, yet providers have struggled to provide ‘hard evidence’ of their effectiveness. The UK government has introduced Payment by Results (PbR) as a principal component of its public sector reforms. Thus arts projects within criminal justice are now required to engage with an outcomes-based commissioning process. This article uses an evaluation of the Writers in Prison Foundation (WIPF) to explore the challenges and possibilities presented by this political landscape and to suggest approaches to outcome measurement which will help arts practitioners to survive and flourish.