Browsing by Author "Nikkilä, Miia"

This master’s thesis study examines the new type of public management in Finland brought about by the introduction of the ideals of new public management internationally.Specifically, the ideal of self-responsibility was examined in the Finnish context by focusing on the aftercare of short-term prisoners. The study focused on the question of how does the prevailing public management in Finland effect the situation of released short-term prisoners, and specifically, how does it affect their aftercare measures? In order to provide an answer to this, the study sought answers to three questions: 1) what problems are there in the aftercare of short-term prisoners in Finland and what are the consequences of these problems; 2) how is the aftercare of short-term prisoners divided between the government, the municipality, and the third sector and who is responsible for providing aftercare services; 3) how does the public sector responsibilitize released short-term prisoners and, if so, what kind of problems does this cause them in relation to their aftercare? This study was conducted by using a qualitative multi-sited ethnographic approach that consisted of using different sets of data. First, governmental laws and policies regarding imprisonment and social welfare were used as secondary or background data. Second, ethnographic fieldwork was undertaken at a non-profit organisation along with ethnographic interviews in order to collect valuable insight into the topic along with some first-hand experience. Third, thematic interviews with short-term prisoners, the staff of the non-profit organization, and with governmental social workers were conducted. Lastly, ethnographic observations during the thematic interviews were undertaken. The findings of this study suggest that the influences of new public management and its ideal of responsibilitization are visible in the aftercare of short-term prisoners. There seems to be a move towards necessitating short-term prisoners to take responsibility for their own matters already during their time in prison, but specifically after their release. On top of this, these individuals are expected to actively demonstrate a motivation for change in order to be entitled to receive services due to the lack of resources and a move away from a needs-based service provision. Problems to do with a decentralised service provision and the way in which short-term prisoners are not viewed as a group necessitating specialised services also lead towards the above stated situation. Crucially, the responsibility of the government or the municipality to provide services for this group of individuals is being shifted towards the third sector in a way that the third sector has become the ‘problem solver’ of the Finnish society. The lack of resources, however, that is also prevalent within the third sector has an influence on individuals in that they are expected to take on increasing amounts of responsibilities for their own aftercare. The study concludes that further research is needed in relation to the situation of the aftercare of short-term prisoners – and prisoners in general – to fully understand the way in which new public management and its ideals affect this issue and how the welfare renewals recently suggested by the government influence the situation of this marginal and problematic group of the population.