Showing papers in "Criminology & Criminal Justice in 2006"

A desistance paradigm for offender management

Abstract: In an influential article published in the British Journal of Social Work in 1979, Anthony Bottoms and Bill McWilliams proposed the adoption of a ‘non-treatment paradigm’ for probation practice. Their argument rested on a careful and considered analysis not only of empirical evidence about the ineffectiveness of rehabilitative treatment but also of theoretical, moral and philosophical questions about such interventions. By 1994, emerging evidence about the potential effectiveness of some intervention programmes was sufficient to lead Peter Raynor and Maurice Vanstone to suggest significant revisions to the ‘non-treatment paradigm’. In this article, it is argued that a different but equally relevant form of empirical evidence—that derived from desistance studies—suggests a need to re-evaluate these earlier paradigms for probation practice. This reevaluation is also required by the way that such studies enable us to understand and theorize both desistance itself and the role that penal professionals might p...

Penal policy and political economy

Abstract: Globalization has not led, and is unlikely to lead, to a global homogenization of penal policy and practices. Drawing on a study of penal systems in 12 contemporary capitalist countries (the United States of America, England and Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Sweden, Finland and Japan), this article demonstrates that the political economies of such countries can be broadly categorized as neo-liberal, conservative corporatist, social democratic or oriental corporatist. This categorization is strongly related to the punitiveness of the penal culture and the rates of imprisonment to be found in each country. The reasons for this association are discussed. One crucial factor may be the degree to which societies with different types of political economy are ‘inclusive’ rather than ‘exclusive’ towards deviant individuals.

How the resettlement of prisoners promotes desistance from crime: or does it?

Abstract: The article considers current developments in the 'resettlement' of prisoners in the light of recent theory and research on factors promoting desistance from crime. While recognizing improvements promised by the Reducing Re-offending National Action Plan and the concept of 'end-to-end' offender management, it is argued that these are unlikely to reduce re-offending significantly without greater attention to individual offenders' mental processes and levels of selfmotivation, which are identified by the desistance literature (as well as much of the 'what works' literature) as critical factors in personal change. An account is given of a promising approach adopted in the 'Resettlement Pathfinders', where a cognitive-motivational programme was combined with practical services, with encouraging early results. However, concerns are expressed that even the most innovative approaches may be undermined by features of the broader context within which correctional services are delivered, including an excessive emphasis on enforcement (which makes no allowance for the 'zigzag' nature of desistance) and the potentially negative impact of 'contestability' on relational continuity.

The impact of work–family conflict on correctional staff: A preliminary study

Abstract: Work–family conflict (WFC) occurs when the work domain and family domain are incompatible with one another in some manner. A survey of staff at a private Midwestern prison measured four dimensions ...

The kindness of prisoners: Strengths-based resettlement in theory and in action

Abstract: This article explores the notion of so-called ‘strengths-based’ offender reintegration for prisoners returning to the community. First, we briefly explore the normative and empirical theory underlying this approach. Next, we present evidence from a case study the authors have undertaken on a particularly interesting example of strengths-based resettlement in action. It illustrates the tensions that occur when risk-based policies collide with strengthsbased opportunities. The lessons learned in this case study are then used to develop further the theoretical understanding behind a strengths-based resettlement approach.

Liquid security Managing the market for crime control

Abstract: Liquid security captures the shift from the solid-state technology of the criminal justice state to the more fluid, transient and dispersed operations of the private security industry. Despite its ...

Is there life after imprisonment?: How elderly men talk about imprisonment and release

Abstract: Based on findings from a two-year study in four UK prisons, this article discusses the prison experiences and release expectations of male prisoners aged 65 and above. In terms of the prison experience, we argue that elderly men in prison often have enormous difficulties simply coping with the prison regime. In addition, most have certain painful pre-occupations, including a fear of dying in prison, the loss of familial contact, the loss of a ‘protector’ role, the loss of a respectable (non-prisoner) identity and the loss of a coherent and satisfactory life narrative. In terms of release, we argue that elderly men in prison often experience significant release and resettlement fears. Many recognize that not only are they vulnerable to assault when released (this applies particularly to those convicted of sexual offences) they also have ‘nothing to go out to’ and too little time left to ‘start over’. Using prisoners’ own accounts, we examine how elderly men in prison think about their lives during and afte...

The revolving door at the prison gate: Exploring the dramatic increase in recalls to prison

Abstract: In this article we draw attention to the recent and extraordinary increase in the number of people in England and Wales recalled to prison during the licence period of their sentence (by examining the published Parole Board and prison statistics). This is followed by a description of the existing law and the recent changes to it, which we suggest will exacerbate the current trend. We seek then to explain the increase by looking primarily at the US experience (which reveals a system which is costly, discriminatory and apparently ineffective at reducing crime) and at recent judicial review cases (which reveal a system which is increasingly acknowledged to be unfair), concluding that current sentencing law and practice puts inappropriate emphasis on ‘front door’ sentencing practices rather than the equally important ‘back door’ practices of release, supervision and recall. Unsurprisingly, the article ends with a call for much more research in this area.

Managing risk From regulation to the reintegration of sexual offenders

Abstract: In recent years the management of the dangerous, particularly sex offenders, has generated enormous concern. This concern has been reflected at a number of different levels—in media and popular res...

Getting the message? ‘New’ Labour and the criminalization of ‘hate’:

Abstract: Hate crimes, it has been said, are ‘message’ crimes to which society needs to respond using the most powerful and unambiguous means of communication at its disposal, the criminal law. Using empiric...

Supporting offenders with multiple needs Lessons for the ‘mixed economy’ model of service provision

Abstract: This article draws on an evaluation of a large-scale programme in London, ‘From Dependency to Work’ (D2W), to discuss the obstacles to effective work with offenders with multiple needs. D2W, a five...

Reconstructing the role of the appropriate adult in England and Wales

Abstract: The definition of the role of the ‘appropriate adult’ for young suspects in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 Code of Practice C is ambiguous and contradictory. This article argues that the...

Style over substance? A review of the evidence base for the use of learning styles in probation

Abstract: The implementation of the What Works agenda within probation has brought about the development and delivery of a suite of accredited programmes in relation to work with offenders. The accreditation...

Drug use desistance

Abstract: Drug dependence is generally thought to involve a loss or reduction of individual autonomy. Yet of the 11 million people in the UK (27 per cent of the population aged 16–74) who have ever used illi...

Sobering Up: Arrest Referral and Brief Intervention for Alcohol Users in the Custody Suite

Abstract: Since their inception in the mid-1980s, there has been a rapid increase in the number of arrest referral schemes implemented in custody suites across the United Kingdom. These schemes have generally been focused upon detainees with drug-related problems and their key aims have been to provide education and treatment for detainees immediately after arrest as this is viewed as the time when the subject will be most contemplative of and receptive to change. It is becoming recognized that the custody suite may also be an appropriate setting for tackling alcohol-related problems through both arrest referral' and brief intervention'. The article outlines the principles that lie behind arrest referral and brief intervention and it presents a case study of a scheme that provided such treatment for detainees arrested for alcohol-related/specific incidents. Here the background to the initiative in question and the key data collected as part of an independent evaluation are presented. Consideration also is given throughout the article to problems encountered in implementing and evaluating the scheme and it is hoped that some of these will serve as lessons for future research.

Gender differences in responses to speed cameras: Typology findings and implications for road safety

Abstract: Automated speed cameras in England and Wales have become a very common means of enforcement of speed limit breaches in most police force areas, but they are not without controversy despite the majority of public opinion behind them. Research in the mid-1990s showed that drivers responded to speed cameras in one of several key ways, and the typology of responses produced was linked with drivers' characteristics. Now that women comprise more than 4 out of 10 licensed drivers in England and Wales, it is timely to revisit the earlier research by considering the gender characteristics of the driver typology, and this article contrasts the results longitudinally with those obtained from a 2003 survey that inter alia explored similar issues. The implications for road safety of the behavioural and attitudinal differences noted by gender (and age) are discussed, especially in the context of risk-based control policies and the term 'drivers'. This latter aspect is achieved by way of a brief analysis of national newspaper articles.

Demystifying risk management A process evaluation of the prisoners’ home leave scheme in Greece

Abstract: This article explores the factors considered by the Greek prison authorities in administering the home leave scheme. It is shown that the administration of the programme is significantly guided by exogenous factors like media pressure, mounting demand for rationality and accountability and populist considerations on the part of the superior officers at the Ministry of Justice, subsequently reflected upon personal concerns like the possible adverse consequences for decision-makers were they to exhibit ‘unwarranted leniency’. Support is lent to the arguments: that the scheme is used primarily as a means of maintaining institutional control; that the selection of participants onto the programme is largely decoupled from their needs, but rather depends mostly on their risk profile, which, however, is not determined by means of any sophisticated actuarial technique; and that the various categories of risk are greatly associated with race/ethnicity-linked knowledges or assumptions. Notwithstanding the constraints of action imposed upon decision-makers, it is concluded that rehabilitative impulses have not been completely supplanted by disciplinary and actuarial considerations, and that criminal justice agents still play a considerable, albeit attenuated, part in forming penal currents in prison. No clear indication of bias towards nonGreek prisoners was found in processing licence applications.

The character of penal control in Latin America: sentence remissions in a Venezuelan prison

Abstract: While imprisonment is often referred to in Englis-speaking countries as ‘doing time’, in Venezuela this phrase is never used; people speak of ‘discharging the sentence’. This linguistic difference is a useful starting point for a reflection on cultural differences in the character of penal control. In this article, we examine the administration of sentence remissions in a Venezuelan prison during the six years following the enactment of the Sentence Remission Law (1993). Contrary to the active role envisioned by that law, penal bureaucracy assumed a passive role, converting remissions into a claims system for prisoners. Such claims were linked inefficiently to opportunities for early or full release, leading some offenders to spend more time than necessary in prison. Nonstandardized procedures for factoring remissions into the proportion of time served, together with frequent errors in date computation, also injected a random element into the flow of time. Time served in prison was therefore jointly deter...

Book Review: Cultural Criminology Unleashed:

Abstract: Cultural criminology is, of course, by no means new. Ferrell and Sanders, after all, wrote Cultural Criminology back in 1995. What is important about Cultural Criminology Unleashed is less its novelty so much as its systematic exploration of this thematic area, its timing and the challenge it poses to the discipline of criminology more generally. To begin with it would be wrong to view cultural criminology as a paradigm in the Kuhnian sense. Rather, it represents a meeting place wherein various members of criminology’s wandering tribes have met profitably together. Conceived in this way, Cultural Criminology Unleashed appears as a space for engagement: a space where criminologists from diverse backgrounds have been drawn together as a social movement in a collective enterprise. Their task has been to review the significance of, to elaborate on, and to demonstrate further, the crucial importance of culture to the criminological imagination. As with any social movement, cultural criminology did not appear out of nowhere and this text provides a useful introduction to the theoretical currents and focal concerns that mobilize its authors. These currents include the microsociology of subcultural theory, phenomenology and post-structuralism. These, in turn, are mixed with, and inspired, by the political engagement and critique of oppression unleashed by critical criminology. What this makes for is a hybridized movement that is theoretically rich while also politically motivated and committed. If we examine how these theoretical and political strains interact, then what we find at the very centre of this enterprise is a movement that aspires to uncover the phenomenology of transgression by taking cognisance of the meanings delinquents bring to their actions and interactions. Conceived in this way cultural criminology aspires to hear those silenced by the truth games of state saviours while attending to that which is intrinsic to the subject matter of criminology itself; what Jock Young aptly describes as ‘its adrenaline, its pleasure and panic, its excitement, its anger, rage and humiliation and its B O O K R E V I E W S

Book Review: Electronic Monitoring of Offenders: Key Developments Issues in Community and Criminal Justice—Monograph 5

Abstract: plaints bodies were to perform these functions separately, openly and transparently in association with each other and the police department. The New World of Police Accountability is an invaluable text for understanding how policy and practice in the closely connected fields of police accountability and complaints have developed. Although coverage is limited to the US situation, Walker’s technique of separating elements out, tracing their history and then demonstrating their connections makes this useful reading for all those with practice and research interests in police accountability.

Book Review: Ironies of Imprisonment

Abstract: make the important point that there are many significant factors which play a part in reducing re-offending such as basic skills education, social and communication skills levels, motivation, compliance and accredited programme attendance. On reading the book it becomes clear that Youth Justice and Probation are currently working in a similar vein to implement successfully the right package of interventions for each individual. I believe that Probation and Youth Justice may offer each other great insight into current approaches to working with offenders. There is often not the opportunity to have an overview of work being carried out by other organizations or how this links to one’s own work. On reading this book it becomes apparent that there is much more work ahead in both Probation and Youth Justice settings to enable best practice and ‘seamless’ multi-agency working across the board. The research goes some way to answering questions raised by myself and colleagues on topics related to accredited programmes such as attrition rates and targeting of offenders. Although there is not yet a definitive answer to questions such as how to reduce attrition successfully, to be informed of researchers’ attempts to identify causal factors gives front-line staff the reassurance that this problem, along with others, is being explored. This book will be of particular interest to staff within Probation and Youth Justice and to others currently engaged in study in these or similar areas.

Book review, 'The New World of Police Accountability'

Abstract: than simply describing the latest example of information technology in a criminal justice context. A theme throughout the book is what we might term the ‘plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose’ debate concerning the relationship between information technology and the criminal justice system (and in particular the question of the ‘newness’ of new technology crimes). The editor, particularly in Chapter 12, is clearly with those that argue that fundamental changes have occurred as a result of information communications technology and we are not simply witnessing a ‘re-tooling’ (or Burden and Palmer’s (2003) ‘e-enabling’) of conventional crime. The contributors to the book provide persuasive evidence of this and a number of chapters will be useful source material to students researching this debate. What is lacking on occasions is a greater theoretical perspective on the changes we continue to witness. Although there is an appreciation of the place of environmental criminology and routine activity theory in the contexts of crime analysis (Section 3) and cybercrimes (Section 1) these appear to be somewhat isolated examples.