NCJ Number
79690
Journal
Judicial Review Volume: 25 Dated: (December 1980) Pages: 121-147
Date Published
1980
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the rise in crime in the United Kingdom in recent decades and the role of the penal system in dealing with it.
Abstract
Crime in the United Kingdom since World War II has increased on an unprecedented scale and shows no sign of decline. Some believe that the way to deal with criminal behavior is to treat offenders sympathetically and provide attractive incentives for them to revise their criminal patterns. Empirical evidence apparently indicates such a strategy is not working. It does little good to blame the crime increase on the socioeconomic conditions of the modern world. The blame is most appropriately placed on the penal system. More is needed than a mere reversal of the present trend away from the punishment of offenders in favor of rehabilitative treatment. Everything possible should be done to increase the effectiveness of the police without compromising essential liberties for law abiding citizens. Practices, such as the right of a suspect to remain silent, which appear to aid the guilty rather than the innocent, should be discarded. Deterrence is unlikely to be effective in dissuading persons from committing crime unless the rate of arrests and convictions is increased. Further, radical early intervention should be pursued for juvenile offenders. Gentle treatment of young offenders until they have committed a series of offenses does little good and may only encourage juveniles to cast off restraint because the consequences are minimal. Custodial sentences for young and first offenders who commit serious crimes should be used in order to deter them from repeating criminal behavior in the future. Twenty-seven footnotes are listed.