NCJ Number
137538
Date Published
1990
Length
240 pages
Annotation
Using data collected through 23 interviews, this book provides insight into the netherworld of crime in the United Kingdom and into the perspectives of many of the actors that people that world.
Abstract
Some of the interviewees included a nightclub owner, constable, drug dealer, corrections official, prison widow, probation officer, victim, and lawyer. Many of the subjects had similar views on many issues, despite their widely varying roles. Most of them had found their job exciting; had not casually told people of their profession; felt that their lives were misrepresented in the media; and felt the heavy pressures of their calling, be it crime, the police, the prison service, or the press, on their personal and professional lives. The author notes that crime does not seem to be a priority for the British public despite declarations that it is one of the public's greatest concerns. He maintains that the British correctional system is blatantly ineffective and has ignored all the innovations in corrections being developed elsewhere in Europe. Finally, much of the information available on crime is one- dimensional and has little relationship to reality.