Showing papers in "Howard Journal of Criminal Justice in 1983"
TL;DR: The authors explored the efforts of the Police Court Mission in the courts of summary jurisdiction, and explained how it was possible for the missionaries to be absorbed into the probation system, and for their religious ideals to yield, eventually, to the radically different philosophy of the aspiring, "scientific" social work diagnosticians.
Abstract: This essay explores the efforts of the Police Court Mission in the courts of summary jurisdiction. For 60 years, in an age which accorded ever-increasing importance to the methods of science, the missionaries held firmly to a religious philosophy, distinctively their own. This paper attempts to explain how it was possible for the missionaries to be absorbed into the probation system, and for their religious ideals to yield, eventually, to the radically different philosophy of the aspiring, “scientific” social work diagnosticians.
99 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report the experience of a Home Office crime prevention demonstration project where implementation proved difficult and seek to explain these difficulties in terms of the literature on policy implementation and have a number of suggestions for more successful crime prevention implementation.
Abstract: Little attention has been paid to the implementation of crime control measures, yet implementation failure may curtail the effectiveness of measures as much as failure to influence the activities of offenders. This paper reports the experience of a Home Office crime prevention demonstration project where implementation proved difficult. It seeks to explain these difficulties in terms of the literature on policy implementation and has a number of suggestions for more successful crime prevention implementation.
44 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors review the work which indicates how many offenders fall within this group, and summarise those characteristics they have in common, and trace the interacting patterns of multiple disadvantage from which so many offenders in this category find it difficult to escape, before drawing some conclusions about the implications of this analysis for penal policy and sentencing practice.
Abstract: In recent years a category of offender has been described and identified by Home Office research workers and penal reform groups as one which should be kept out of prison wherever possible. In this paper, the author reviews the work which indicates how many offenders fall within this group, and summarises those characteristics they have in common. He then traces the interacting patterns of multiple disadvantage from which so many offenders in this category find it difficult to escape, before drawing some conclusions about the implications of this analysis for penal policy and sentencing practice.
12 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, it has been argued that crime prevention is an integral part of police work and one which requires public support, and there are sound reasons why it should be crime specific in its approach and draw on the resources of the whole community.
Abstract: It has long been recognised that crime prevention is an integral part of police work and one which requires public support. Nevertheless, in recent years the police have tended to emphasise a deterrent approach to crime control, a development which has pushed crime prevention into a backwater. If crime prevention is to develop, and there are sound reasons why it should, it must be crime specific in its approach and draw on the resources of the whole community. There are obstacles to be overcome; principally that for many the cost of living with crime is seen to be less than the cost of preventing it.
8 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the methodological problems of self-reported crime studies and found that it is very doubtful whether valid conclusions can be drawn, either about the number of offences of different types which have been committed or about the characteristics of offenders.
Abstract: Research studies and surveys which involve asking people what offences they have committed have many methodological problems. An examination of these problems shows that it is very doubtful whether valid conclusions can be drawn, either about the number of offences of different types which have been committed or about the characteristics of offenders. Besides this, there are ethical problems involved in persuading people to answer questions regarding their criminal behaviour. The contribution made by self-reported crime studies to scientific research or to improving the accuracy of published criminal statistics is not sufficient to warrant their being continued.
7 citations
TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that the continuous justification in terms of and preoccupation with individual need obscures the fact that I.T. has become the vehicle for an increasingly wider and more intensive regulation of the lives of young people.
Abstract: This paper has as its starting point the unease with which researchers and some members of the social work profession now view current trends in Intermediate Treatment (I.T.) In this paper, which is intended to be an introduction to a more detailed analysis, I attempt to explain these issues by drawing together the historical development of I.T. and showing the connection between these changes that have taken place in penal policy and changes that have occurred in the wider social structure. It is argued that this raises serious questions in respect of the assumptions made by the social work profession about I.T., in particular that the continuous justification in terms of and preoccupation with“individual need” obscures the fact that I.T. has become the vehicle for an increasingly wider and more intensive regulation of the lives of young people.
5 citations
TL;DR: The authors discusses contemporary developments in penal policy and practice in the light of Professor Stanley Cohen's "Punitive City" concept and concludes that there is little evidence of a "transformation" in either ideology or practice away from custodial modes of control.
Abstract: This paper discusses contemporary developments in penal policy and practice in the light of Professor Stanley Cohen's “Punitive City” concept It is shown that there is little evidence of a “transformation” in either ideology or practice away from custodial modes of control Short custodial sentences have much support and, as Cohen suggested, supposed “alternatives” often do not displace custody For the foreseeable future it is likely that non-custodial controls will be relatively cost-effective, rather simple and overtly punitive or reparative in aim: it is highly improbable that they will as Professor Cohen suggests, be oriented towards a “social-work rationale” of “treatment”
1 citations
TL;DR: The official policy underlying attendance centres with the practice of one such centre is contrasted and certain divergences are highlighted and their implications discussed in the light of the recent Criminal Justice Act.
Abstract: This paper contrasts the official policy underlying attendance centres with the practice of one such centre. Two issues in particular are discussed: the objectives of the centre (noting particularly the views of the staff and the boys) and the apparent place of attendance centres in the tariff. Certain divergences are highlighted and their implications discussed in the light of the recent Criminal Justice Act.