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Showing papers in "Howard Journal of Criminal Justice in 1993"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The aims, administrative stuctures, funding, evaluation requirements and immediate origins of Safer Cities are described in this article, focusing on the complex interrelationships between politics, Home Office sponsored criminology and policy formulation.
Abstract: The aims, administrative stuctures, funding, evaluation requirements and immediate origins of Safer Cities are described. A detailed explanation of each of the major elements of the programme is then attempted, focussing in particular on the complex interrelationships between politics, Home Office sponsored criminology and policy formulation. There follows an analysis of the context and logic of the programme as it has emerged and may develop in the future. A series of summary statements describing the antecedents of concerns with crime prevention as a policy issue and of safer Cities as a particular expression of this reveal the essentially contingent character of the initiative. © 1993 Howard League and BPL

35 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the implications of this concept for probation policy and practice, and argue that current debates have tended to lose sight of a long tradition of joint work between the service and the voluntary sector.
Abstract: This article examines the concept, strongly promoted in recent Home Office policy, of partnerships between the probation service and the independent sector. Its aim is to discuss the implications of this concept for probation policy and practice. It is argued first that current debates have tended to lose sight of a long tradition of joint work between the service and the voluntary sector, and examples are given of past partnerships' which may help inform present thinking. Five central issues are then identified - the divisibility of probation tasks, accountability, compatibility of aims, organisation, and funding. It is suggested that their resolution may depend upon enhanced local participation and co-operation in criminal justice.

15 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined how the media portrayed barristers' comments in rape trials and argued that an implicit consensus is reflected by unified ‘real-life’ accounts of the rape trial.
Abstract: This study focusses on how the media portrays barristers' comments in rape trials. It examines shifts in reporting since the Second World War. The importance of the contributions of the prosecuting counsel is noted. In fact, it is not simply assumptions of the defence taken up by the media which sustain sexist attitudes but on occasions the prosecuting counsel can also be seen as colluding. This has legal and media implications. It not only questions assumptions concerning the adversarial legal systems but also it is argued that an implicit consensus is reflected by unified ‘real-life’ accounts of the rape trial.

12 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The United Nations Third Survey of Crime and Criminal Justice (United Nations 1987) contains data on global criminal justice expenditure as discussed by the authors, showing that between 1982 and 1986 there was a trend of increased expenditure on criminal justice.
Abstract: The United Nations Third Survey of Crime and Criminal Justice (United Nations 1987) contains data on global criminal justice expenditure. The data show that between 1982 and 1986 there was a trend of increased expenditure on criminal justice. At the same time crime rates increased. This paper examines criminal justice expenditure in different parts of the system, in an attempt to discover whether there are patterns to global criminal justice expenditure. The author concludes that criminal justice expenditure is more concerned with political and ideological objectives than with feasible criminal justice outcomes.

10 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Criminal Justice Act 1991, the most radical review of the parole system since 1967, fails to deal adequately with the release of those serving life sentences as mentioned in this paper, which is the case even within the current sentencing structure.
Abstract: The Criminal Justice Act 1967, which introduced parole into this country for those sentenced to determinate sentences, did not establish parole for those sentenced to imprisonment for life, but inserted the Parole Board into the chain of advice which the Home Secretary had to take before releasing a lifer. A number of recent cases have brought the discrepancies between the way different categories of life prisoners are treated to the attention of the courts, yet the Criminal Justice Act 1991, the most radical review of the parole system since 1967, fails to deal adequately with the release of those serving life sentences. This article, whilst avoiding the wider argument for the abolition of indeterminate sentences, suggests that even within the current sentencing structure, parole for lifers could be made significantly fairer. In particular, the same procedures should be followed for those serving mandatory (for murder) and discretionary life sentences.

6 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, four approaches to drug enforcement are evaluated and three of them are characterised as the conventional approaches which have been dominant through most of the past decade, and the arguments for and the limitations of each are considered.
Abstract: Four approaches to drug enforcement are appraised. Three of these are characterised as the conventional approaches which have been dominant through most of the past decade. The arguments for and the limitations of each are considered. It is argued that the shortcomings of these conventional approaches has led to renewed interest in enforcement aimed at the street or retail level of the market. Drawing on economic models of the drug market and the behaviour of drug buyers, the arguments for low level drug enforcement are described, and some problems with this approach indicated.

6 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
Rob Allen1
TL;DR: The authors decrit l'evolution recente de la Justice des mineurs en Norvege and compare certaines questions clefs avec celles existant in Angleterre et au Pays de Galles, en particulier les mesures proposees ou mises en place for traiter les jeunes delinquants particulierement dangereux.
Abstract: L'A. decrit l'evolution recente de la Justice des mineurs en Norvege et compare certaines questions clefs avec celles existant en Angleterre et au Pays de Galles, en particulier les mesures proposees ou mises en place pour traiter les jeunes delinquants particulierement dangereux. Il presente quelques modifications recentes de la politique criminelle dans ce domaine

5 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Scottish Prison Service is committed to its goal of a more enlightened Prison Service as mentioned in this paper, which is a "quality service" in which prisoners will be viewed as responsible persons and be presented with opportunities about how they wish to use their period of imprisonment.
Abstract: Disorder in prisons in the 1980 led to a searching debate within the Scottish Prison Service, which produced a commitment to change from a reactive and defensive culture into a more open, proactive one. The aim now is a ‘quality service’ in which prisoners will be viewed as responsible persons and be presented with opportunities about how they wish to use their period of imprisonment. A cultural change of this kind affects the way in which the service organises itself, takes decisions and treats staff. Changes are now in hand which ‘migrate’ tasks to establishments and empower Governors-in-Charge - and their staff. Inevitably this mw style of prison management will take time and emounter difficulties. The Scottish Prison Service is committed, however, to its goal of a more enlightened Prison Service.

3 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the move from diversion back to punishment might well diminish intended rehabilitative effects, because in this way the negative (side-) effects of a fully penal execution are taken aboard.
Abstract: Post-war Dutch penitentiary policy has been characterised by the principle of rehabilitation. In the 1980s, the optimism of reaching this ideal by ‘improving’ prison conditions has been tuned down. Sanctions which are executed ‘closer to the community’, as it is currently called, are now considered to have a greater rehabilitative potential. Many of these so-called ‘alternative sanctions’ currently function in a model of diversion from the penal system in early phases of the penal process. Recent white papers indicate, however, a tendency to develop such ‘alternatives’ further by transforming them into principal modes of punishment - that is, codifying them and having them imposed by a judge. The basis of this article is, that this move from diversion back to punishment might well diminish intended rehabilitative effects, because in this way the negative (side-) effects of a fully penal execution are taken aboard. Eight guiding principles are outlined to safeguard the status of alternative sanctions as a possible impetus of penal reform.

1 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the Home Office responses to Lord Justice Woolf's report on the 1990 prison disturbances are considered and a way forward whereby discipline may be maintained in prisons through the application of a redrafted Prison Rule 47 and a revision of the present procedure.
Abstract: The writer considers the Home Office responses to Lord Justice Woolf's report on the 1990 prison disturbances insofar as they affect one aspect of prison lift, nameb, the adjudication. He fears that, with the removal from boards of visitors of their adjudicatosy function, elements of natural justice have been placed in jeopardy. It may not be possible for a governor to come to a hearing without bias or without hints that the governor is a judge in his or her own cause not being sufficiently independent. Lord Bridge's dictum in ex parte Leech (1988) to the effect that the governor adjudicates as something other than a servant of the Secretary of State is diyficulty to sustain in practice. The adjudicating governor may be in breach of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The writer offers a way forward whereby discipline may be maintained in prisons through the application of a redrafted Prison Rule 47 and a revision of the present procedure.

1 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the implementation of the Young Offenders Act in the most populous of Canada's ten provinces, Ontario, and argued that the original principles and programmes upon which the Act was based were not followed when the legislation was introduced.
Abstract: This article explores the implementation of the Young Offenders Act in the most populous of Canada's ten provinces, Ontario. It argues that the original principles and programmes upon which the Act was based were not followed when the legislation was introduced. Research has demonstrated that rather than adopting alternative measures approaches which emphasise the special needs of delinquents, the approach is increasingly one of imprisonment. Increasing levels of investment in the carceral response has meant that community programming has not been implemented in any meaningful way. The Community Options Programme is described as a direction for future treatment of youth under the law. It is suggested that collaboration between social control agencies to co-ordinate approaches is long overdue. The economies of community based responses on both the economic and human level are suggested.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that while such court interventions help to clarify important points of law, they are not very helpful for prisoners in their day-to-day conflicts with the prison administration.
Abstract: Empirical research shows that many prisoners in Germany take their governors to court. But only very few of these prisoners succeed in getting what they want. While such court interventions help to clarify important points of law, they are not very helpful for prisoners in their day-to-day conflicts with the prison administration. Here, some sort of ombudsperson is still high on demand.