This chapter examines the statutory offences under the Criminal Law Act 1967 of assisting an offender. Examples include hiding a principal offender, helping a principal offender to avoid arrest or to abscond from bail, lying to the police to protect the principal offender from investigation and prosecution, hiding the weapon used by the principal offender in committing the assault/robbery and washing clothes worn by the principal offender to obstruct any potential forensic examination. In addition to the fact that the offender must have committed a relevant offence, another element in the actus reus where an offender is charged with impeding the apprehension or prosecution of the offender is that the accused must have done ‘any act’ with the appropriate intent. An attempt to commit this offence does not amount to criminal liability.
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Chapter
Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to introduce students to the broad study of criminology. The study begins at the end of the nineteenth century and considers theories that have gained credence over the past century or so. It then discusses two important aspects to many theories and the policies used by States in addressing crime, over the period studied. First, are offenders acting entirely out of choice or free will, and can thus be blamed and called to account for their actions? Second, are offenders less volitional in that their choices are limited through structural or social factors which tend to exclude or marginalise some groups or individuals? An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.
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Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter examines theories on female offending, which include biological, hormonal, and psychological theories; learning theories; masculinity/femininity theories; strain theories; and control theories. Traditional mainstream criminology views male criminality as ‘normal’ and something that merely needs to be kept within reasonable bounds. Female criminality is, however, abnormal, unexpected, and portrayed as pathological and irrational. It is argued that mainstream criminology fails to use social explanations of criminality to explain why women offend or are more conforming than their male counterparts. The most promising ideas so far come from control theories and strain theories, so long as these are applied in a gender-neutral manner.
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This chapter looks at some special considerations relating to the evidence of witnesses. It first sets out to sketch the way in which this branch of law has changed over time. The chapter then deals with the procedures for taking testimony in the standard case and, in particular, appropriate measures for dealing with witnesses who are fearful. Next, this chapter discusses factors peculiar to particular categories of witness, such as children, spouses, and offenders. In a number of cases, special rules have been devised to cater for these special categories. Sometimes special rules of competence and compulsion, rules requiring supporting evidence, and rules of practice dictating the form of direction are given to the jury when considering such evidence. Finally, the chapter deals with the nature of supporting evidence.
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This chapter evaluates the alternative means of responding to offenders and their crimes which have emerged in criminal justice and have been gaining wider recognition. Those who favour innovations of this kind tend to reject conventional assumptions and approaches, proposing new principles for the operation of the justice system. The chapter considers two distinct but similar challenges to conventional models of justice which have developed from this viewpoint: restorative justice and diversion. Restorative justice is based on the presumption that dealing with crime is a process rather than a single act or decision, that it involves collaboration between those with a stake in the offence, and that it emphasises healing as well as ‘putting things right’. Diversionary interventions, which can include community service, restitution, and education, as well as elements of restorative practice, provide an opportunity for the offender to avoid criminal charges or formal judicial processes, albeit sometimes by meeting certain conditional requirements.
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Anne Worrall and Rob Canton
This chapter explains the history, philosophies, current practices, and policy debates surrounding those sanctions that are often referred to as ‘alternatives to prison’. The discussions cover the types of community sentences and sentencing trends; the National Probation Service and National Offender Management Service; ways of understanding the politics of punishment in the community; diversity and punishment in the community; community sentences and populist punitiveness; community sentences and the ‘What Works?’ agenda; and community sentences and probation in other countries.
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Martin Hannibal and Lisa Mountford
This chapter discusses the following issues: the terminology of youth justice; the youth justice organisations; the meaning of parental responsibility; the principal aims of the youth justice system; the early diversion procedures to prevent further offending; the juvenile at the police station; the alternatives to prosecution; and the decision to charge.
Book
Susan Easton and Christine Piper
Sentencing and Punishment provides an accessible account of recent developments in sentencing and punishment from the standpoint of penal theories, policy aims, punishment practice, and human rights. It reviews changing ideas on what counts as ‘just’ punishment, and covers the key themes and topics studied on sentencing and punishment courses, New features of this, its fourth edition, include a focus on changes and continuities in penal and sentencing policy since 2010 as well as greater attention to sentencing guidelines and to the impact of the relevant sentencing provisions in force since the last edition, notably the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 and the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015. Material on dangerous offenders is also updated. In two new chapters—‘Instead of punishment?’ and ‘Impact on victims and offenders’—this edition brings together different, yet linked, areas of sentencing law and practice to provide new perspectives, and in restructured chapters on community punishment and young offenders, it focuses on such recent developments as the privatisation of the delivery of community penalties, the ‘rehabilitation revolution’, and the decreased use of custody for young offenders. This edition also gives more attention to the continuing influence of human rights law and jurisprudence and incorporates more material on the impact of the Equality Act 2010 on the treatment of different groups within the prison population. It also now includes case studies and discussion questions at the end of each chapter.
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This chapter focuses on the ways and the extent to which the courts deal differently with children and young people under 18 who commit criminal offences or behave antisocially. It therefore covers the new criminal behaviour orders and injunctions as well as parenting orders. It then reviews the sentencing options available to the Youth and Crown Courts in dealing with young offenders, and examines the current practices and policy trends in relation to both community and custodial penalties for young offenders. In particular, the chapter covers the YRO (Youth Rehabilitation Order) and the Detention and Training order. It highlights the continuing deficiencies in the care of young people detained in young offender institutions and secure training centres, especially in regard to methods of restraint, and examines the advantages and limitations of using children’s rights and human rights to ensure more appropriate treatment of children and young people who commit offences.
Chapter
Martin Hannibal and Lisa Mountford
This chapter considers the range of disposals available where a young offender admits the offence(s) or a finding of guilt is recorded against him. It discusses the principles which guide the sentencing of youths; the youth court’s sentencing powers; the adult magistrates’ court sentencing powers; the Crown Court’s sentencing powers; and sentencing a ‘dangerous’ young offender.
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This chapter highlights crime prevention. Preventive strategies represent an approach that is less concerned with dispensing justice than with minimising the risk of crime being committed in the first place. Crime prevention strategies are thus based on a combination of assumptions about human motivations and research evidence about observed patterns of offending behaviour. The chapter then looks at the political and strategic factors that may influence decisions about which crimes to try to prevent. It considers perspectives on crime prevention focusing on potential offenders (in terms of deterrence and diversionary approaches), potential victims, and the idea of community safety and well-being. Finally, the chapter addresses some of the continuing and unresolved questions about the purported achievements and effectiveness of crime prevention strategies.
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This chapter examines the rehabilitation of offenders. Much discussion of crime and criminality focuses on the culpability of the offender, the management and control of crime, and the nature and legitimacy of punishment. However, there is another strand of criminological inquiry (and practice) which is more concerned with understanding offenders, appreciating ‘what makes them tick’, and seeking out tools and methods for reintegrating them into society as conventional law-abiding citizens. In effect, such approaches are concerned with identifying the causes and consequences of criminal behaviour and developing interventions which will enable offenders to change their behaviours and thought processes to enable them to take advantage of legitimate opportunities and to live decent lives. The chapter explores some of the beliefs and assumptions which underlie this kind of approach to crime and criminality. It considers some of the implications in terms of criminal justice practices and evaluates the outcomes of rehabilitative approaches. Finally, the chapter reflects on some of the limitations of this perspective on crime, both empirically and theoretically.
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This chapter explores recent developments in restorative justice theory, research, and practice. It examines reasons why it has been challenging to define restorative justice and offers a comprehensive definition that articulates the relationship between values, processes, and outcomes. It then explores the main theoretical traditions that account for the claims of restorative justice: shame theories, procedural justice theories, and ritual theories. Following this, it reviews the empirical evidence on how offenders and victims experience restorative justice compared to court, and whether it can reduce reoffending. This chapter also discusses contemporary debates around restorative justice and punishment. It concludes by offering an assessment of the future of restorative justice.
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This chapter discusses the law covering atypical workers. These include part-time workers, fixed-term workers, agency workers and ex-offenders. The EU social policy was tasked with coming up with a number of directives to prevent discrimination against such workers, and to give them what is effectively a ‘floor of rights’. Under the law, part-time workers should not be treated less favourably than full-timers, unless this can be objectively justified. Fixed-term workers should not be treated less favourably than full-timers, unless this can be objectively justified. A fixed-term employee who has been with the same employer for four years is entitled to a permanent contract. An agency worker is entitled to comparable terms and conditions as a permanent employee after twelve weeks. Ex-offenders are entitled not to refer to their convictions in certain circumstances, depending on what they were sentenced to.
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Victimology is now regarded as a central component to the study of crime and deviance. Victim-based analysis enables understanding of different aspects of criminal and deviant behaviour and is redefining focal research concerns across a range of crimes. This academic development has been matched by the recognition by the criminal justice system of the consequences of victimization and moves towards both victim services and a victim-centred justice process, and by increasing political concern with victimization. The chapter analyses victimology’s key conceptual approaches, ideas, and typologies and examines whether and how different criminological perspectives understand the victim. The chapter considers the issue of victim precipitation, in the context of offender motivation, crime events operandi, and differential risks. It concludes with a discussion of how victimology has connected across to human rights violations with restorative and transitional justice foregrounding consideration of global issues such as truth-telling, reconciliation, reparations, peace-building, and normative compliance.
Book
Lucy Welsh, Layla Skinns, and Andrew Sanders
Criminal Justice provides a comprehensive overview of the criminal justice system in England and Wales (excluding punishment), as well as thought-provoking insights into how it might be altered and improved and research that might be needed to help accomplish this. Tracing the procedures surrounding the appre-hension, investigation, trial and appeal against conviction of suspected offenders, this book is the ideal com-panion for law and criminology students alike. As the authors combine the relevant legislation with fresh research findings and policy initiatives, the resulting text is a fascinating blend of socio-legal analysis. Whilst retaining its authoritative treatment of the issues at the heart of criminal justice, the book has been fully updated with recent developments, including terrorism legislation and the initial Covid-related restrictions introduced in early-mid 2020. In this, the book’s 5th edition: two experienced new co-authors, Dr Layla Skinns and Dr Lucy Welsh, join Andrew Sanders (Richard Young having decided, 25+ years after the 1st edition, to do other things); the text features chapter summaries and selected further reading lists to support the student and encourage further research; the content of the book has been fully updated to include coverage of new legislation, case law, research and policy developments; and the text is enriched by the new authors’ specialist research into accountability, police custody, magistrates’ courts and criminal legal aid. The theoretical structure of the earlier editions is retained, but developed further by consideration of ‘core values’ in criminal justice and the impact of neoliberalism.
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This chapter examines the cultural and subcultural theories of crime and delinquency, beginning with Albert Cohen’s 1955 analysis of ‘subculture’ in relation to delinquent behaviour by gangs and how his approach to subculture as a ‘way of life’ evolved to resolve problems facing lower-class youth in a highly competitive society. It then looks at the work of other scholars who challenged Cohen’s theory but retained much of his analytic framework, including Richard Cloward, Lloyd Ohlin, and David Matza. In particular, it discusses various theoretical perspectives linking culture and subculture to delinquency, from strain theories to Matza’s drift theory, labelling theory, and culture conflict theories. It also explores the relationship between crime and the labour market, particularly unemployment. The chapter concludes by reviewing the criticisms against subcultural theory.
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This chapter examines the phenomenological sociology of crime, deviance, and control. It first discusses the central issues relating to phenomenology, particularly with respect to knowledge, good and evil, and deviant phenomena. It then discusses some of the arguments put forward by phenomenologists, citing the link between experiences and consciousness and how phenomenology relates to social order. It also considers the work of Aaron Cicourel, Egon Bittner, David Sudnow, and others on the phenomenological sociology of crime and deviance, as well as the emergence of phenomenological criminology. The chapter concludes by reviewing some of the criticisms of phenomenological work on deviance.
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Terry Thomas
This chapter examines the nature of sexual offending and the forms it takes, as well as the enhanced social response being made. The discussions cover forms of sexual offending; criminal processes; civil measures for public protection; public access to the sex offender register; and mental health and sexual offending.
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This chapter reviews the main options available to the sentencing court which do not entail immediate custody. It therefore deals with fines, reviewing the difficulties posed by differential ability to pay, and community orders as well as suspended prison sentences. It discusses the tensions between imposing proportionate punishment—a retributivist aim—and delivering rehabilitation programmes—a utilitarian approach. It therefore discusses the theory and practice of rehabilitation that underpins these initiatives. However, because punishment and rehabilitation also take place in the community for those released from prison, this chapter examines supervision and the new ‘beyond the gate’ programmes for prisoners released on licence. The chapter therefore, covers the policy trends in relation to fines, the ‘rehabilitation revolution’, the privatisation of the delivery of community penalties, and the new and old utilitarian theories relating to rehabilitation.
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