NCJ Number
204841
Editor(s)
Michael Tonry
Date Published
2003
Length
262 pages
Annotation
The 11 essays in this book examine the criminal justice policies and proposals of Great Britain's Labour government over the past 5 years, with attention to whether and how they might work.
Abstract
The focus of the essays is on the substance and potential impact of criminal justice proposals presented in John Halliday's 2001 Review of the Sentencing Framework, the 2002 government White Paper "Justice for All," and the 2002 Criminal Justice Bill. The 11 essays that address these proposed policies originate from 2 sources: a Cambridge Crime Policy Conference convened in November 2002 to examine the proposals presented in the White Paper, and the Cambridge Sentencing Policy Study Group, which met regularly between October 2000 and April 2002. The latter group examined a wide range of sentencing and corrections policy issues. The first essay argues that the criminal justice policies of the Labor government, touted by their proponents as being based in empirical research, in fact are based in a political ideology of punitiveness that has led to an erosion of civil liberties and an increase in the prison population. An essay on policies toward drug-dependent offenders examines the link between drug abuse and various types of crime, the effectiveness of coerced drug treatment for drug-dependent offenders, and the requirements necessary for a treatment-oriented regimen for these offenders. An essay on the policy approach to dangerous sex offenders cautions against relying on risk-assessment instruments as the basis for the sentencing and case management of sex offenders. A fourth essay critiques policies that have attempted to counter the cumulative victimization effects of repetitive nuisance offenses committed by habitual offenders; and a fifth essay considers actual and potential effects of government policies on procedural and evidential protections in British criminal courts. Two essays analyze policies that pertain to the development and administration of sentencing guidelines and the proposed new role for the judiciary in managing the implementation of the sentences it imposes. Other essays address sentencing disparity between offender racial and ethnic groups in England and Wales, sentences that combine the use or threat of custody with intensive supervision in the community, various strategies for reducing the prison population in Great Britain, and summaries of group discussions following the presentation of six papers at the Cambridge conference. Chapter references and a subject index