NCJ Number
79899
Date Published
1980
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This British booklet discusses various approaches to the control of crime, assesses the effectiveness of the police in Great Britain, and develops a new strategy for crime control.
Abstract
A brief review of the history of the British police precedes a discussion of the duties of the police. An evaluation of various custodial and noncustodial treatments of offenders leads to the conclusion that no one treatment is markedly more effective in achieving rehabilitation and that none of the measures appear to work at all well. Some revision of the power of the courts is necessary, if Great Britain is to face the growth of crime with any realism. The booklet recommends more flexibility in handing down fines, so that the wealthier are obliged to pay greater fines and the poor smaller ones; a clear legal requirement should be implemented to pay compensation to victims as a priority over fines; community service should be made an exception; and detention center sentences of 14 days to 3 months should be available. In addition, dangerous offenders and violent psychopaths should be subject to a reviewable sentence, and courts should be relieved of many more routine cases by wider application of fixed penalty procedures in minor offense cases. A sensible strategy for crime control will require the courage and commonsense to decide where the limited and costly resources of the police are most profitably deployed. This will most likely lead to the decriminalization of victimless crimes and criminal law reform. Tangible improvements in crime control will flow from manageable methods of preventing crime and from focusing on specific crimes, rather than on crime in general. A total of 13 references are included.